Liberal Party deploying 600,000 'Yellow Army' of volunteers

MANILA, Philippines - The Liberal Party (LP) is deploying a 600,000-strong “Yellow Army” of volunteers to campaign for and guard the votes of its standard-bearer, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, his running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II and the rest of the slate in the May 2010 elections.

LP campaign manager Florencio Abad said yesterday this would be part of the non-conventional campaign of the party to persuade undecided voters and others who are not “deeply committed” to other candidates to be on their side.

But the LP would also venture into traditional campaigning through media advertisements and sorties nationwide, Abad said.

He said former Defense secretary Avelino Cruz, who also served as chief legal counsel of President Arroyo, ex-Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Joel Cadiz and several other top lawyers have also joined them to protect the votes of the Aquino-Roxas team.

“In the next four months of the campaign, we will depend on this Yellow Army of volunteers, especially in the provinces, to conduct the more intensive campaigning for our candidates,” Abad said in an interview.

He said the volunteers would be recruited, trained and mobilized to multiply their number not just for the campaign but also to serve as watchers during the elections.

“We have identified the fraud-prone provinces and cities,” Abad said.

Abad said Cruz and the other lawyers have committed to their “Bantay Balota Program” and would be part of the training for their watchers nationwide.

“This is important because of the new voting system under automated elections,” he said.