Only Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can save the ruling party from certain disintegration by running for the No. 2 position in next year’s elections.

Quezon Province Representative Danilo Suarez said that some of the members of the administration's Lakas-Kampi-CMD believed that Ms Arroyo had the power to stop the desertions and provide Defence Secretary Gilbert  Teodoro, the party’s standard-bearer, with the best odds of winning.

“It will be easy to raid Lakas-Kampi, if Gibo does not improve his ratings soon. But Arroyo can change all of that by running as his vice president because members will then think they can win it all and stay put,” Suarez said in a phone interview.

Ms Arroyo is also rumoured to be gunning for a congressional seat in her hometown Pampanga next year with an eye on becoming the House Speaker and spearheading moves in Congress to amend the Constitution.

“But this plan will only pan out if Gibo (Teodoro's nickname) wins. So we believe that only by running for vice president can she ensure the unity of the party and its continued dominance in the next administration,” Suarez said.

He said the ruling coalition would hold an executive committee meeting on Wednesday where he would raise his proposal. The President will preside over the meeting, which would also tackle the party’s national convention on November 19.

“We have to be pragmatic in politics. If the President herself is the best one for the job, why not her? She is still young and she knows that it’s hard to take politics out of her system that easy. If she is really perceived to be as unpopular as her critics claim, why are they afraid of her running?” Suarez said.

But Suarez and other party officials said that talk of the ruling coalition’s demise at this point was greatly exaggerated.

Suarez saw the movements in the political arena as realignments rather than defections.

“We are the biggest party in the land and naturally we will have candidates in all areas, including those where we have rival members. Those who are not chosen will go to another party, that is just how politics is,” he said.

Reggie Velasco, Lakas-Kampi executive director, said that the party would rather have members in the local level who would support its national ticket rather than have members who were torn between their party and their old loyalties.

“Lakas and Kampi are relatively new parties and most of our members are either Liberal or Nacionalista before and they are perceived to have the front-runners for 2010. We believe we can have 50 percent of all incumbent congressmen, governors, and mayors on our side by 2010 and that will still be formidable,” Velasco said.