3-day campaign set in Central Luzon for UNA bets

MANILA -- After kicking off the national campaign in Central Visayas last week, senatorial candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) will be wooing voters in the provinces of Pampanga, Zambales and Bataan from Wednesday to Friday.

First stop for UNA bets is a motorcade-cum-boodle fight breakfast in Angeles City Public Market on Wednesday. This will be followed by a short town hall meeting with the vendors.

Also, the UNA contingent will make a brief stop at the Marquee Mall in Angeles City before proceeding to San Fernando City and Magalang, Pampanga.

The senatorial ticket is likewise scheduled to hold rallies in Olongapo City and key towns of Zambales and Bataan on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Records from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) show the three provinces comprise nearly 40 percent (representing 2.14 million people) of the 5.82 million registered voters in Central Luzon for the May midterm polls.

UNA has since deplored the absence of guest candidates Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero and Grace Poe Llamanzares in its sorties as coalition officials challenged the three to show up or risk losing support.

"If they won't be present, let's see. I will study (our options)," UNA secretary general Toby Tiangco told Sun.Star.

UNA guest candidate Grace Poe-Llamanzares said she would respect the decision of the party if in case the coalition makes good of its threat to remove her from its line up.

"I will respect it if they decide to drop us, that's their prerogative," she said. "I won't attend (their sorties) for the meantime. Anyway, Vice President Binay said we still have to talk about it."

UNA is composed of nine official candidates and three guest candidates. The other two guest candidates are reelectionist senator Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero.

The three guest candidates were absent in UNA's provincial sorties but present in the political rallies of the Liberal Party-led coalition Team PNoy, where they are also guest candidates.

Set to appear in the Central Luzon sorties are Nancy Binay, Margarita Cojuangco, JV Ejercito, Jack Enrile, Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan, Ernesto Maceda, Mitos Magsaysay and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Meanwhile, Tiangco said the rallies will focus on a positive theme and will move away from political mudslinging.

He said it was the Liberal Party that started hurling thrash talks in the campaign and not UNA.

"LP should not start what they can't finish. They fired the first shot by hurling a malicious and false accusation against Vice President (Jejomar) Binay who is not even a candidate. But when they are asked to account for their government record, they cry black propaganda," he said.

UNA earlier hit LP acting president Joseph Abaya for taking a dig at Binay's skin color when he branded the upcoming elections as a battle between "black and white."

Tiangco said UNA has always been focusing on issues as manifested in its campaign advertisement that showed the Aquino administration's inadequate efforts in addressing poverty, hunger, and unemployment. (Virgil Lopez/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)