The coalition of the two parties was announced over the weekend by Rufus Rodriguez, a member of an ad hoc committee formed to finalize the merger, with the corresponding accord signed several days ago.
Angara will be representing the LDP, while Sen. Jose "Jinggoy" Ejercito Estrada of the PMP will sign the covenant at the Club Pilipino in Greenhills in San Juan at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Senator Estrada himself confirmed that both parties have discussed the details of the merger.
There were efforts to bring Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. to the merger but sources said Pimentel appeared more interested in strengthening his own party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban).
The LDP, PMP and PDP-Laban put up the Koalition ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) in the last elections to battle President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her K-4 coalition.
In the May 10 elections, President Arroyo beat KNP standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr. amid charges of widespread spending of public funds by Arroyo.
Both the canvassing and proclamation of Arroyo were attended by controversies, forcing Poe and his running mate then Sen. Loren Legarda to file a protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), which is comprised of Supreme Court (SC) justices.
Those who will attend the national party congress on Wednesday will be considered charter members.
Rodriguez said both parties decided to merge after each party fielded its own local bets that led to infighting. A merger of all opposition parties is the ultimate goal of the leaders of LDP and PMP, he said.
There are at present two LDP senators – Angara and Panfilo Lacson- and four PMP senators- Juan Ponce Enrile, young Estrada and his mother, Luisa "Loi" Ejercito Estrada, and Jamby Madrigal. There are also 16 LDP and PMP congressmen.
It was not yet clear on how the two parties will deal with the case of Lacson and several congressmen who went against Poe, the political opposition’s choice.
One LDP official told Bulletin that Lacson and the congressmen would not longer be considered as members of the merged political opposition party because the LDP will then be abolished following the merger.
Lacson and Poe went down in defeat to Mrs. Arroyo as neither of them refused to slide down as the vice presidential bet of the other or withdraw to allow the other to contest the bid of President Arroyo.
Rodriguez said the merged political party which may be called LDP/PMP party or any other name on Wednesday will have former President Estrada as chairman and Angara as president.
Former Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda, who ran and lost as Poe’s running mate, will be the executive vice president (EVP) while former Agrarian Secretary Horacio "Boy" Morales will be the secretary-general, Melo Santiago as treasurer and lawyer Avelino Cruz as the chief legal counsel.
Poe would join the National Advisory Board of the merged parties.
Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. who supported Poe’s candidacy in the last elections was reported being wooed by the ad hoc committee to join the merged parties.
Whether one-half of the membership of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) would also be brought into the revitalized opposition group was not yet clear.
The NPC, founded in 1992 by industrialist Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, who ran and lost in the 1992 presidential elections, is split with one half of its top leaders siding with the Arroyo administration and the half with the political opposition.
Former Senate President and former NPC President Ernesto M. Maceda and Sorsogon Rep. Francis "Chez" Escudero, among others, represent the anti-administration bloc within the NPC.
