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TEAM
Unity (TU) spokesman Joseph Ace Durano expressed
confidence on Monday that no candidates from the
administration ticket would withdraw from the senatorial
race.
Durano,
who is also the Secretary of the Department of Tourism,
said that TU candidates are all committed and determined
to push through with their candidacies, despite poll
surveys showing some of them trailing their counterparts
from the Genuine Opposition.
“Based
on the actuations of Team Unity candidates, all are
committed to their respective senatorial candidacies.
Such possibility [of withdrawing] is unlikely,” he said.
Durano
was reacting to reports that three administration bets
are entertaining the idea of withdrawing from the race
and instead run for lower offices because of the
discouraging results of the surveys.
These
are Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, actor Cesar
Montano and Tessie Aquino Oreta. All three, however,
have denied the reports and said they were very much in
the running.
In a
statement, Singson said he would never back out from the
senatorial elections, confident that he would win.
“It
never crossed my mind to bow out of the campaign. In
fact, Team Chavit is highly confident of pole-vaulting
from the 25th position in the surveys to an 8th-place
finish comes the final canvassing of the votes,” Singson
averred as he confidently predicted that the provincial
voters comprised mostly of farmers and workers belonging
to the agricultural sector will carry him through.
The same
denial was made by Montano. “I really don’t know where
this story came from, I have gone through this before. I
am certain to go on with my senatorial bid.”
Frank
Abalos, Oreta’s chief of staff, said that she would
never quit the senatorial race.
“Definitely we are not withdrawing and we are
campaigning hard to improve her ratings,” he said.
Durano
at the same time expressed optimism that the start this
week of the campaign for the local election would boost
the administration’s chances of a 12-0 sweep of the
senatorial race.
He
sought to douse speculations that the intense jockeying
for local posts among leaders of the ruling majority
coalition would hobble Team Unity’s bid for dominance in
the senatorial polls.
Durano
said the administration’s fielding of different bets at
the local level would provide a multiplier effect for
Team Unity senatorial bets.
“Instead
of only one group campaigning for the administration
ticket, what we have now are several groups supporting
Team Unity,” Durano said.
He said
the campaign by local candidates would translate into an
additional 8 percent to 10 percent of votes for the
administration ticket, and that this would be further
increased with more candidates running under the
administration banner.
Is the
apology of Oreta for the “dancing queen” episode during
the 2001 impeachment hearings of then President Joseph
Estrada part of the arrangement for her to be accepted
in the administration ticket?
This was
asked by San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito, Genuine
Opposition (GO) campaign manager.
“…But I
don’t think it will help improve anyone’s ranking …,”
Ejercito said adding that the act of Oreta will
“backfire.”
On
Friday, Oreta issued a public apology through a paid
advertisement.
Part of
her political ad states: “Pagkakamali ang ginawa ko na
iyon. Gusto kong humingi ng patawad. Nasaktan ko kayo
[What I did was a mistake. I want to seek forgiveness.
I’ve hurt you.]”
The
former senator and her colleagues were seen rejoicing
when they succeeded in blocking the opening of the
controversial second envelope during Estrada’s
impeachment trial. The failure to have the second
envelope opened eventually sparked protests leading to
the ouster of Estrada and the assumption to power of
President Arroyo.
Adel
Tamano, GO spokesman, said that Oreta should have
apologized a long time ago for what she did.
For her
part, former senator Nikki Coseteng, another GO
senatorial bet, said she would not do what Oreta did.
“I will
never say what I did was wrong I will always say what I
did was not popular at that time, history will bear us
out,” Coseteng said.
Team
Unity blasted the opposition for engaging in black
propaganda to condition the mind of the electorate that
the administration will cheat in the coming May 14
mid-term elections.
A report
claimed that former elections commissioner Virgilio
Garcillano will work for the victory of Team Unity,
which strongly denounced the allegation as pure hearsay,
baseless and a mere figment of the mind.
In a
news conference, Team Unity candidate Mike Defensor said
the alleged cheating by the administration candidates is
just hearsay.
“It was
a black propaganda meant to condition the mind of the
electorate in the event that the opposition loses in the
coming elections,” Defensor said.
TU bets
Edgardo Angara and Singson echoed the squid tactics by
the opposition saying that the move is just preempting
their imminent loss. (With J. Cadacio and B. Cordero) |
