Aquino to lead Team PNoy campaign launch

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III will lead the proclamation rally of the Liberal Party-led coalition or Team PNoy on February 12 at the Plaza Miranda in Manila, campaign spokesmen said.

Around 8,000 supporters and members of the different political parties the LP is allied with are expected to gather in the historic venue, said campaign spokespersons Deputy Speaker Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III and Marikina Representative Miro Quimbo.

Team PNoy is a coalition of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), Nacionalista Party (NP), the ruling Liberal Party (LP), Akbayan party, and the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).

The administration candidates are reelectionist Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, and Antonio Trillanes; Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara, former Las Piñas representative Cynthia Villar, former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Jamby Madrigal, former party-list Representative Risa Hontiveros and presidential cousin Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV.

Senators Loren Legarda and Francis "Chiz" Escudero and former Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares are also joining Team PNoy as guest candidates.

Quimbo and Tañada confirmed all three guest candidates will join the proclamation rally of Team PNoy.

"We've been assured by campaign manager that all 12 candidates will be present in tomorrow's (Tuesday) launch," Tañada said in a press conference referring to Senator Franklin Drilon.

"We're confident that the party will be able to show a united fight over the next 90 days…They are our candidates. That has been made clear over the last two weeks," Quimbo said.

But the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), where Legarda, Escudero and Llamanzares are also guest candidates, said only two candidates are joining LP's campaign launch as Legarda will skip the proclamation rally Tuesday to celebrate the 80th birthday of her father.

On Tuesday, Aquino will close the program after all the 12 candidates have spoken. Each candidate will be given six to eight minutes.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, who is seeking re-election, will deliver the opening remarks while celebrity couple Aga Muhlach and Charlene Gonzales will be the emcees in the event. Muhlach is running for congressman of Camarines Sur under the LP.

Team PNoy will be in Batangas on Wednesday and in Laguna on Thursday.

The campaign spokespersons said President Aquino will join most of the Team PNoy sorties to stress his support on the administration-backed candidates.

"In the last 20 years, you will not hear of a President that will be putting his performance on the line as a referendum on how he is doing in the last two years. That is a very rare advantage," Quimbo said. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)