MANILA, Philippines ? Hysterics and hallucinations from delusional candidates and losers.

This was how a spokesperson of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno dismissed opposition warnings that a Puno vice presidential candidacy would let loose an administration-sponsored cheating machinery in the 2010 elections.

?These critics are now seeing ghosts where there are none and are pathetically trying to condition the public?s mind that the only way Lakas-Kampi-CMD can win big in 2010 is by rigging the balloting,? said Interior Assistant Secretary Brian Yamsuan.

Teodoro-Puno team strong

Opposition groups assailed the ruling party?s choice of Puno as a possible running mate for Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, the Lakas-Kampi-CMD?s likely presidential standard-bearer.

They raised the specter of widespread electoral fraud, citing Puno?s history as a campaign strategist who allegedly used dirty tricks to ensure the electoral victories of former President Fidel Ramos in 1992, deposed President Joseph Estrada in 1998 and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004.

Yamsuan said such concerns were ?mere hysterics from delusional men,? adding that these groups must be feeling intimidated by the strength of the Teodoro-Puno team-up.

Antidote against cheating

?These doomsayers are worried sick about a Lakas-Kampi-CMD victory on the strength of the Gibo-Ronnie tandem that they are beginning to hallucinate about wholesale cheating and have started peddling such delusions as the only justification for the opposition?s dismal loss in 2010,? Yamsuan said in a statement.

The Puno camp also reminded critics that the 2010 polls would be fully automated, which it said was a powerful ?antidote? against cheating.

Yamsuan defended Puno against accusations of masterminding cheating operations in 1992, 1998 and 2004, saying none of the allegations were proven.

He scoffed at charges that the Philippine National Police, which is under the supervision of the Department of Interior and Local Governments, would be used in rigging the election results.

?The PNP is a highly professional force that will not lend itself to electoral fraud, and Puno will have no control over the PNP during the elections as he will leave the DILG at the proper time ahead of the official campaign period,? said Yamsuan.

The ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD is confident of Teodoro?s prospects of victory, despite his being at the tail end of candidate preference surveys, citing the upset win of Ms Arroyo over the late movie star Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles, the party?s vice chair, said the party considered Poe as a much more formidable foe than Sen. Benigno Aquino III whose political stock has rocketed after the outpouring of grief over the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

?Poe was more popular in 2004 than Noynoy is now and he [Poe] nearly won. The opposition was even united in 2004 and it was a virtual one-on-one between GMA (Ms Arroyo) and FPJ (Poe?s ninitials),? said Nograles.

?I think if the opposition fields three or four strong candidates, the administration will have the upper hand,? he said.

Leading different from winning

Aquino has claimed to be leading by a substantial margin in eight to 10 opinion polls taken shortly after Sen. Manuel Roxas gave up his presidential bid in favor of Aquino, whose candidacy is being pushed by the formidable ?yellow army? to continue his family?s legacy.

Nograles said the administration is confident of its candidate?s chances, likening the situation now to 2004 when the surveys showed Ms Arroyo was favored by only 25 percent of voters against Poe?s 70 percent.

?Leading is different from winning because the leading candidate does not always win. In a basketball game, a leading team can lose in the last two minutes. The end game is more important because of the delivery of the organization and watchers,? said Nograles.

Nograles said that next month?s survey would be crucial because it will have been a month since Teodoro?s presidential bid was firmed up.

?We will see by then if Gibo?s numbers will fly,? he said.

Possible scenario

But Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia said Teodoro does not have a lock on running under the banner of Lakas.

De Venecia said that if the Commission on Elections were to rule in favor of his petition to nullify the merger of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, Teodoro would have no choice but to run under the Kampi banner.

Lakas-CMD and Kampi officials said that if the coalition?s merger is rejected by the Comelec, the component parties could separately back the presidential candidacy of Teodoro.

?That?s a possible scenario. There could be a coalition of the two groups supporting a common candidate. But let?s not preempt the Comelec decision,? said Secretary Raul Gonzalez, the presidential legal counsel who is also the party?s chief counsel.

Gabriel Claudio, coalition secretary general, explained that under such a scenario, ?it would be like Lakas and Kampi working for the same candidates from the President down to local candidates under a coalition.?

But he said the Comelec?s rejecting the party?s accreditation was a ?remote possibility? because the merger had a ?firm legal basis.?

?All party rules were followed and the merger?s petition for accreditation by the Comelec is in full compliance with the law,? he said.

One man?s ranting

Party officials are fighting off an attempt by De Venecia, the Lakas cofounder, to nullify the May 28 merger of the Lakas-CMD and Kampi, with less than eight months to go before the May elections.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the Lakas-Kampi-CMD president, said that a Comelec rejection of the party?s accreditation would not affect Teodoro?s candidacy.

?Whatever happens, the hearts of the party members are with Teodoro. The worst thing that can happen is we undertake the same selection process, but he?d still emerge as the standard-bearer. But I doubt we would reach that point,? he told dzRH radio.

Gonzalez said the coalition was confident the Comelec would affirm the merger, and approve its accreditation.

?After all, JDV [De Venecia] has abandoned the party already. What is his personality in questioning the actions of the party now?? he said.

Claudio argued that De Venecia was ?simply illegally, politically and morally estopped? from opposing the merger because he filed his petition after the merged party?s petition for accreditation had been submitted for resolution.

?One man?s ranting and sour-graping cannot overturn the voice of the overwhelming majority of the party?s membership,? he said.

JDV pushed for merger

Contrary to De Venecia?s claims, Claudio said it was De Venecia who pushed for the coalition?s merger until he was ousted as House Speaker in February 2008 and then as Lakas president.

?Since then, the merger with Kampi was pursued by both parties with the consent and support of all members in good standing, including all incumbent governors, congressmen and mayors, and in full view of the public,? he said.