NOYNOY, MAR CALL FOR 'NEW KIND OF PEOPLE POWER' / OPENING
SALVOS FIRED
[PHOTO
AT LEFT -
Sen. Benigno Aquino III flashes the ‘Laban’ sign during a rally in
Concepcion, Tarlac yesterday. Jonjon Vicencio]
CONCEPCION, TARLAC, FEBRUARY 11, 2010 (STAR) By Aurea Calica - Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his running mate Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II called for a “new kind of people power” to propel them to victory in the coming May elections.
Aquino and Roxas said this new people power would be volunteerism in spreading their message to the people that the country should now have a clean government to finally achieve much needed development.
“If you think that what we are fighting for is right, we need to go and multiply,” Aquino told the crowd who warmly welcomed him with screams, yellow ribbons tied everywhere and yellow clothes, umbrellas and other paraphernalia.
Aquino said they chose to kick off their campaign here because the people of Concepcion were the ones who stood by them during their most difficult times. His father, the late senator and national hero Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was born here and became this town’s youngest mayor and later governor.
Aquino said it was also here where he delivered his first speech in 1976, when he was barely 16 and his father was incarcerated during Martial Law.
Aquino and Roxas, along with the senatorial candidates of the LP, said during the rally in the public market that they would be fighting against more moneyed candidates and an adiministration out to stop them from winning.
They appealed to the people to campaign for them as they could not possibly match the political advertisements being placed in various media by their opponents.
Aquino also warned against possible massive cheating even in their own bailiwicks just to show they were really weak.
Aquino and Roxas asked the public to continue their supporting even after winning, saying the country’s problems had become too many and too deep.
Roxas said the challenge would be ending corruption of the country’s resources and the people’s taxes.
The tandem explained how education and other basic services in the country, job opportunities and investments were affected negatively by corruption in government, with the billions of pesos that could be saved from corruption being used for much-needed projects for development.
“Unholy alliance”
In a subsequent press conference, Aquino said based on the information he was receiving from various regions, his arch rival, apparently referring to Nacionalista Party’s presidential candidate Sen. Manuel Villar, had allied himself with the Arroyo administration to ensure victory.
Aquino said he does not consider Villar as genuine opposition because he never saw him genuinely fight the system being perpetuated by President Arroyo.
Aquino said Villar was always absent and would not oppose the proposed administration budget laden with appropriations for anomalous projects.
“In the days to come, battle lines will be drawn and the people will see who really tolerated the current system (of corruption),” Aquino said.
Aquino refused to give his cousin, administration presidential candidate and former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. unsolicited advice but said he was assuming they were privy to the same information.
War chest
Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, one of the LP’s senatorial bets, said Villar was prepared to spend P6 billion to P10 billion for this campaign and that based on his advertisements alone, Villar had already spent P5 billion.
Hontiveros said this was already bigger than the country’s budget for housing and school buildings.
“What he is spending and willing to spend is more than our social spending. That he is willing to spend billions for his personal ambition puts things in perspective,” Hontiveros said.
The other senatorial candidates - former Senate President Franklin Drilon, Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon, Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto “TG” Guingona, former Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Ralph Recto, Sonia Roco of Aksyon Demokratiko, detained Brig. Gen. Danny Lim, lawyer Alex Lacson, Dr. Martin Bautista and women’s right advocate Yasmin Busran Lao - shared the same sentiments.
During the Mass at the Immaculate Concepcion Church before their rallies and motorcade, the priests prayed for Aquino, Roxas and the LP slate.
In his speech inside the Church, Aquino said he would always draw inspiration from his province. He said he would not have joined this battle were he not sure that together, nthing was impossible and true change could come about.
Villar’s ties with Ampatuans
Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda challenged Villar to shed light on allegations that he secretly forged an alliance with the Ampatuan clan, principal suspects in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province.
“Sen. Villar must explain to the public what he was doing in the Ampatuan mansion before 57 innocent men and women were ruthlessly massacred,” Lacierda said.
“If the connivance between Villar and the Ampatuan clan is true, there will be no hope for justice for the victims and their grieving relatives under a Villar administration,” he added.
Buluan Vice Mayor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu earlier revealed that Villar slept in the house of the Ampatuans before the massacre.
Lacierda said this was proof that Villar and the administration were launching a full-scale campaign against the LP standard bearer.
Opening salvos fired (The Philippine Star) Updated February 10, 2010 12:00 AM
[
PHOTO AT LEFT - Sen. Jamby Madrigal with a vendor in Quiapo, Manila. Edd Gumban]
MANILA, Philippines - Campaign posters went up and jingles blared at election rallies and motorcades all over the country yesterday as the country’s richest politician and the son of its democracy icon fired the opening salvos in the tight race to succeed President Arroyo.
Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, son of former President Corazon Aquino and former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., and his main rival Sen. Manny Villar are promising a fresh start and clean government for the Philippines after nine years of tumultuous rule dotted with coup attempts and corruption allegations.
Aquino, campaigning in Concepcion Tarlac, took potshots at Villar.
“We all know our opponent has the money. And there are those who say that the forces of darkness will come together,” he said in his speech. “The question is, will the force of light be overpowered?”
Aquino had an early head start in popularity thanks to his family name, but recent opinion polls put the two major candidates in a statistical dead heat, with analysts suggesting Villar’s lavish campaign spending has allowed him to catch up.
Villar’s Nacionalista Party, which kicked off the 90-day campaign in Calamba, Laguna yesterday, downplayed the attacks by Aquino and the Liberal Party.
“I am spending my own money,” said Villar, who rose from poverty to make his fortune in real estate before entering politics.
Villar, 60, narrowly avoided censure by his colleagues in the Senate for his alleged role in the rerouting of a highway so that it passes close to his real estate developments. He said the charges are trumped up.
Aquino, 50, has anchored his campaign on fighting corruption and restoring the credibility of the judiciary and Congress, which he says have been seriously eroded by Arroyo. But he is also struggling to step out from the shadow of his mother Cory.
Elections in the Philippines are always colorful and typically marked by fraud and violence, but voters are hoping to turn over a new leaf after the scandal-plagued administration of Arroyo.
More than 50 million voters will choose a president, vice president, nearly 300 lawmakers in the two-chamber Congress, and more than 17,600 local government officials in the first nationwide automated polls on May 10.
Yesterday, candidates pressed hands with vendors, housewives, laborers and teenagers as they hopped from town to town just a few hours away from Metro Manila, visiting markets, parks and churches on the first of 90 days of campaigning.
Some candidates heard Mass at churches, with one transforming his rally into a prayer gathering, re-enacting the Lenten tradition of Jesus Christ washing the feet of his disciples to illustrate his desire to be a public servant.
Historically, popular personalities from political clans, the media, sports and show business dominate the elections in the Philippines, but some analysts are seeing some positive changes.
"In this election, I see a 50-50 ratio on personalities and platforms or issues as the political race heats up among the leading presidential candidates," said Ramon Casiple, executive director of Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms. – AP