The proclamation of Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero's presidential bid had already been widely postponed. Originally scheduled on October 12 to earmark the celebration of his 40th birthday two days before, it was canceled due to the damage wrought by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. The date was moved to October 28.

But the anticipated pronouncement did not happen. Late evening of October 27, members of the media received a text message saying that the event originally slated to happen at 5 p.m. at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, where Sen. Escudero finished college, had to be postponed.

Instead, an impromptu press conference was held on the morning of October 28 in Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan, a historic place where Corazon Aquino was sworn in as President in 1986 after the first "People Power" revolution. It was also in Club Filipino where Sen. Noynoy Aquino declared his bid for presidency on August 9.

At 10 a.m., the hall was already filled with Escudero's supporters, most of them wearing red uniforms and carrying placards with the Senator's name.

Relatives and supporters of the Magdalo soldiers, who were jailed after staging the botched Oakwood mutiny last July 2003, were also present. Early this week, the group openly declared their support for Escudero should he seek the presidency.

But instead of a presidential announcement, Escudero announced his resignation from the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), his political party since he entered politics in 1998.

In his seven-minute speech, Escudero said he bolted out of NPC because he wants to make political decisions by himself, without "passing" the decision to someone else.

He said he resigned from his party Tuesday night, informing only party Chair Faustino Dy, and not to other NPC members, including Sen. Loren Legarda, who recently announced her plan to run as vice president.

Neither did Escudero divulge his plan to business tycoon Danding Cojuangco, NPC Chairman Emeritus, who founded the political party in 1992 to support his failed shot at the presidency.

PARTY IS THE PEOPLE. In his speech delivered mainly in Filipino, Escudero gave three reasons for his resignation. First, he said he wants to clear his political affiliations because the Filipino people is the political party of choice.

"Una, sino man po ang nagpaplanong tumakbo bilang pangulo, dapat wala pong partidong kinabibilangan—NPC, LP, NP, Lakas o ano pa man," he said. "Ang dapat na partidong kinabibilangan ng sino mang nagpaplanong tumakbo, dapat po Pilipinas. At lahat ng mga kapartido niya, dapat lahat din ng Pilipino."

Second, he said "no political solution is possible" for a presidential candidate whose "hands and feet are chained" to a political party.

"Para po sa akin, hindi dapat idikta ng isang partido ang gagawin ng sino mang tatakbo. Dahil kung ganoon, paano niya mapapanagot ang mga tiwali sa gobyerno kung ito ay kagrupo o kasama niya?" Escudero said.

Third, he said he wants to be able to decide what political plans to take "by himself." Throughout the open forum that came after his speech, the Senator repeatedly stated that he feels he is already "free."

Escudero also asked his supporters, who were cheering him after every paragraph of his speech, to give him time to decide what to do next.