Noy urges local execs to support Mar-Leni tandem

MANILA, Philippines – In a gathering yesterday of more than 1,500 local officials, President Aquino took the opportunity to endorse his chosen successor Manuel Roxas II and running mate Leni Robredo.

The Chief Executive was guest of honor at the general assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines at Marriott Hotel in Pasay City. LMP president Leyte Mayor Leonardo “Sandy” Javier Jr. welcomed the President to the gathering dominated by administration officials.

“We are all politicians with different slogans. Those with slogans for selfish ends – to tell you the truth – I wish to thank because they give me something to laugh about every day,” he said in Filipino.

Aquino, chairman of the ruling Liberal Party, then urged the local chief executives to help the administration deliver the votes for Roxas and Robredo.

He said only Roxas and Robredo have the capacity and the integrity to continue his administration’s straight path advocacy.

“Our belief is simple: what we have achieved in six years, we can make permanent because we can make everyone feel that we can have a system of government, of society, dedicated to the people,” he said.

The distinction between administration and opposition candidates, he added, is crystal clear, as those from the LP are not in the habit of making promises but are rather focused on delivering basic services and seeing to the basic needs of the people, like providing police cars for every municipality.

He said the recent delivery of 1,400 police cars and 1,200 vehicles for the Regional Safety Batallion, Public Safety Company, National Support Unit was never promised – but the LGUs received them anyway.

He said voters do not have to gamble but should simply choose candidates with proven integrity and capability to deliver.

He also said the sheer number of unopposed LP candidates alone should indicate that many opposition figures have backed out of the race largely in acknowledgement of President Aquino’s good governance.

He added the certainty of defeat may have convinced many of his political foes to just simply stay out of the race.

In Iloilo City the other day, Aquino said the LP’s political advertisements would be simple and direct to the point.

With the five-way presidential race likely to be tight and unpredictable based on surveys, the administration is counting on its message of continuity.

“We are direct to the point and just telling the truth,” Aquino said. “Because for me, the true spokespersons of our campaign is not me, not Mar or Leni, not our candidates but all of our fellowmen who are benefiting and being helped by tuwid na daan,” Aquino said. –  With  Aurea Calica, Reuters

“For us, we should just do the right thing and the bosses themselves will carry our candidates,” the President said to more than 30,000 people who went to the LP rally in Iloilo City.

The ads of the administration candidates feature the beneficiaries of the government’s various programs.

Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin Drilon said Roxas should overcome his fear that the people’s frustration with the Aquino administration is affecting his candidacy.

“He will address that in the course of the campaign,” Drilon said.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said the people’s frustration with Aquino was affecting Roxas.

“These are all opinions. In a campaign, many ideas come out. I am certain that these will be debated and it will come into the people’s decision-making process. That’s all I can say at this point,” Drilobn said at a weekly forum at Café Adriatico, Manila yesterday.

Drilon admitted that the low ratings of the LP standard bearer were a “concern” among his partymates.  

“Of course it is a concern. No question about that. But what gives us comfort is that there is a steady improvement in the surveys of Mar Roxas, he is now tied for number 2, and for the next three months we will be explaining our platform to the people,” he said.

“ We are confident. We have the biggest political machinery in the country. We have the most credible ‘general campaign manager’ – and that is President Benigno Aquino III,” Drilon said.

Drilon noted how Aquino’s popularity ratings remain high even if he is already an outgoing president.

“We can stand on the platform of good governance of the almost six years of the President’s term which has brought us successes not seen in the past. For the past five years, our GDP growth has averaged at 6.1 percent – the highest in recent memory,” Drilon said.

Roxas, meanwhile, said yesterday he is willing to release his medical records to prove that he is physically fit to be president.

Roxas issued the statement amid calls for presidential candidates to disclose their health condition.

“I’m for openness and transparency so our countrymen will be informed on this issue,” Roxas told reporters. – Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez