At the rate the 39-year old senator Chiz Escudero is rising, you'd think that the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) would readily bet on him as their presidential candidate for 2010. Always in the top three or four of popularity surveys, Chiz is zooming past his older and more seasoned rivals, even without early TV ads.

But the NPC is having second thoughts about him. We hear that Ramon Ang, Danding Cojuangco's alter ego in San Miguel Corporation, has been telling friends that they're quite unhappy with Chiz because he announced to reporters that he was going to call for an investigation of the sale of GSIS shares in Meralco to San Miguel. Apparently, Chiz was advised to distance himself from Cojuangco and show that he's his own man. (Cojuangco is known to be a major contributor to Chiz's senatorial campaign in 2007; the other key  donor is Lucio Tan.)

Well, the two honchos showed their displeasure to Chiz and, by an account of someone to whom Ang narrated the story, they dressed down the senator! Not only that. In a separate meeting with GSIS boss Winston Garcia, Chiz got a similar dressing down.

It's hard to imagine Chiz, always so sure of himself and always wanting to be the smartest person in the room, being scolded by his patrons. But he may not have pushed through with his plan. We've not heard of any such Senate investigation.

Ang has also told some people that NPC, after all, may not field a presidential candidate. It may alienate others and that would be bad for business--SMC being in regulated industries. Ang and Cojuangco would want to be on the good side of whoever wins in 2010, spread their largesse perhaps among the top contenders, rather than push for one candidate who likes them for their funds yet polishes his image at their expense.

But there's still Lucio Tan. Let's wait and see.

The Inside Track is Newsbreak's intelligencer section. It features the latest buzz on juicy political and business goings on.

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