The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) officially adopted Thursday Senator Loren Legarda, the chosen running mate of Nacionalista Party (NP) president Manuel Villar in the 2010 presidential election, as its guest candidate in the vice presidential race.

The adoption of Legarda was announced during the LDP National Executive Council (NEC) meeting chaired by its president, Sen. Edgardo J Angara, held at the historical landmark Manila Hotel Thursday afternoon.

Angara also said the LDP would be supporting the reelection bids of their colleagues in the Senate, including former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon and former Sen. Vicente Sotto III.

He said the party, likewise, is also mulling the possibility of supporting former Sen. Ralph G. Recto should he run for the Senate after joining the Liberal Party (LP). Recto was the former Socio-Economic Planning secretary of President Arroyo.

In her 27-minute speech, Legarda said she was overwhelmed with gratitude for her adoption by the LDP, assuring the party leadership that the same statement of asset and liabilities (SAL) she would file next year would be the same SAL she would leave for scrutiny by the Filipino people after leaving the vice presidency should she win in the forthcoming electoral exercise.

“I don’t intend to enrich myself (while in office),’’ Legarda said as if to stress that the Filipino people are tired of hearing that those in government enrich themselves while in government service and that they have been hankering for good governance.

“The public is there to be served,’’ she stressed, explaining her programs of government, especially on the climate change issue.

Legarda asked the LDP, the other political parties and the Filipino people to make sure that the 2010 elections reflects the true will of the people and not to allow anyone “steal the election.”

Former Isabela Rep. Faustino Dy Jr., Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) chairman, stressed the other day that the NPC’s focus is its support for Legarda, an NPC member, as its vice presidential candidate.

Dy also said the NPC leadership is currently undertaking consultations on the issue of which presidential candidate will the party support.

Legarda, the known environmentalist in the 23-member Senate, accepted the LDP’s endorsement for her candidacy, saying it was because of her support for the LDP during the 2004 presidential election, friendship, and party alliances that could have prompted the LDP to support her.

She acknowledged the guidance and tutelage given by Angara to her and other senators, past and present, at the Senate. Angara was a former University of the Philippines (UP) president and also a former Senate President.

The ranks of the LDP, then the premier party that bloomed during Aquino administration, has been reduced considerably as party affiliations, Philippine style, went helter-skelter as new parties were formed and party alliances forged almost after and before every elections.

The LDP has at present only one senator and a handful of congressmen and governors.

The LDP NEC gave Angara its vote of confidence for his leadership the past years and gave him full authority to negotiate and enter coalitions with other political parties and support individual candidates for national offices.