Magsaysay hopes to get Cebu's support like in 2001

CEBU, Philippines - Former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. is confident that the Cebuanos will give him the same support that he got when he sought reelection in 2001.

Magsaysay, who was in Cebu yesterday, topped both in Cebu City and in the Province in 2001.

Since 11 years already passed, Magsaysay hopes that new voters will look at his track record through the internet.

"They will look at my background having served without any blemish kung ano ang nagawa natin sa Senado," Magsaysay said.

Magsaysay met with some leaders of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry to listen their concerns that need to be addressed when he returns to the Senate.

These include the anti-red tape, bureaucracy in government agencies, traffic problem and others.

"Nakikinig lang para malaman kung sakaling makabalik tayo sa public service," Magsaysay said.

Magsaysay chaired the Senate committee on trade and industry as well as on economic affairs.

Last night, he also attended a gathering of the Liberal Party in Mandaue City where he was endorsed by Cebuano actor Richard Yap, popularly known as "Ser Chief" in a television series.

In 1965, Magsaysay was elected as congressman for the lone district of Zambales.

He was the youngest Congressman to be elected to the Lower House at the age of 27. He went back to the private sector soon after.

In the 1992 elections, he was offered by then Agrarian Reform secretary, now Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to be her vice presidential candidate under the People's Reform Party.

He accepted the offer and run for the elections, hoping to follow his father's footsteps, but the voters favored actor and Senator Joseph Estrada. He went back to the private after that.

In the 1995 elections, President Fidel Ramos invited Magsaysay to join the senatorial slate of the Lakas-Laban Coalition. He won the election and received the third highest vote among the twelve elected senators.

In the 2001 elections, he was reelected to the Senate under the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP party and was affiliated with the People Power Coalition.

In the electoral crisis involving President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Magsaysay distanced himself from the ruling party, Lakas, and joined the  LP, then led by Senate President Franklin Drilon. —/MBG (FREEMAN)