"The Liberal Party Atienza wing is endorsing President Estrada as its presidential candidate," Estrada spokesperson Margaux Salcedo told GMANews.TV over the phone.
"He (Estrada) has accepted their coalition because he feels that in the city of Manila, it's Atienza who will be able to carry out his pro-poor program," she said.
The endorsement will be formally announced at the Port Area in Manila 4 p.m. Thursday, Salcedo said.
Atienza will run for mayor in Manila next year, a position he previously held for several terms. He will be running against re-electionist Alfredo Lim, a former senator and former Interior secretary of Estrada; and former National Police chief Avelino Razon Jr.
Lim is supporting Liberal Party's Benigno Aquino III for president while Razon, a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) is backing the presidential bid of Lakas-Kampi-CMD's Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
Atienza was LP chairman before the party split in 2005 in the wake of the "Hello, Garci" scandal, in which wiretapped audio recordings indicated that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might have benefited from electoral fraud in 2004.
The scandal prompted a faction of the party led by then Senate President Franklin Drilon to call for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation. Atienza’s faction, on the other hand, remained loyal to the administration.
A Supreme Court ruling later recognized the Drilon faction as the "legitimate" LP. - Jam Sisante/RSJ, GMANews.TV
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