BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago exhorted the youth to elect leaders with moral integrity and join the fight against graft and corruption.
“I want you, young people, to join the crusade against corruption,” Santiago told students of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos yesterday.
Santiago, the People’s Reform Party standard bearer, urged the youth not to vote for corrupt officials, saying they will just continue to steal public funds.
Santiago also told the crowd that her opponents are devising black propaganda to put her in the lower rungs in surveys.
While admitting she is faring poorly in the surveys, Santiago described them as “commercial surveys” intended to turn off potential campaign contributors and force her out of the race.
Santiago said she finds it puzzling that while she is lagging behind other candidates in national surveys, she has consistently topped mock polls conducted in most colleges and universities across the country.
“They are being paid,” she said, referring to mainstream surveys in previous interviews.
Miriam then revealed to the crowd that she was offered P350 million to back out from the presidential race.
“Can you imagine? Me, an Ilongga, being offered P350 million?” Santiago remarked in local dialect.
Her husband Narciso joined her in the campus visit.