As expected, Senator Manuel Villar, head of the Nacionalista Party and one of the country’s leading presidential aspirants, Tuesday picked fellow Senator Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition as running mate in the May 2010 elections.

Villar made the formal announcement Tuesday afternoon at the historic Laurel House on Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City.

The announcement ended weeks of speculations within political circles as to who will be Villar's running mate. There were earlier assumptions he would pick Sen. Francis Escudero, whose own presidential aspirations suffered a serious setback when he quit the NPC.

Sources said Legarda agreed to be Villar's running mate following a series of negotiations which was finally sealed last Sunday night.

Describing his vice presidential pick, Villar said: "Our team-up is founded on and solidified by our common advocacies such as poverty alleviation, climate change mitigation and environment rehabilitation, and protection of our migrant workers which we have been passionately pursuing."