By Joyce Pangco Pa?ares

President Arroyo will make a pitch for the merger of the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats and the party she founded, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, to ensure the victory of the administration standard-bearer in the 2010 elections. The merger hit a snag following the infighting at Kampi and at Lakas.

Presidential adviser on political affairs Gabriel Claudio said Mrs. Arroyo will set the merged parties? direction during the expanded committee meeting of Lakas today in her home province of Pampanga.

?She is expected to give broad directions for strengthening the party in the context of the proposed merger with Kampi in preparation for the 2010 elections,? said Claudio, who is also the senior deputy secretary-general of Lakas. ?The administration?s victory can be better ensured by a unified political organization, fielding and supporting the same line-up of candidates at all levels.?

Mrs. Arroyo, who is chairman of Lakas, said earlier that uniting the two political parties will result in a ?colossus? of a party.

The President also expressed confidence that her successor will be ?whoever is supported by the Lakas-Kampi merger that will combine the talents and resources of two great political parties into a powerhouse team of five senators, an absolute majority of the House of Representatives with 143 representatives, 55 governors, 85 city mayors, 945 municipal mayors and over 7,000 vice governors, board members, vice mayors and councilors.?

According to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, among the issues that will be discussed during today?s Lakas meeting are the criteria for the standard-bearer, and whether the standard-bearer will come from Lakas or from parties allied with the ruling party.

?We have barely 18 months to go and we have to start preparing and form our search committee. The search committee will resolve the issue of whether the standard-bearer will be from Lakas or can the standard-bearer come from our other allies such as the Nationalista Party, Nationalist People?s Coalition, the Atienza-led Liberal Party, and the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas,? Ermita said.

Apart from the merger with Kampi, Lakas has also begun discussions with NPC and NP for an alliance.

Senator Manuel Villar leads the presidential bets from NP while the possible standard-bearers from NPC include Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

Earlier, Lakas secretary-general Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said the merger between Lakas and Kampi was ?put on hold? because of the infighting at the latter.

Zubiri singled out the squabbling between Interior Secretary and party chairman Ronaldo Puno and party president Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte.

?We can?t talk to Kampi as a political party unless it resolves its old problems because if they [Puno and Villafuerte] continue fighting, there will be no control of their members come 2010,? Zubiri said.