Magsaysay welcomes relative's bid

MANILA, Philippines - Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay welcomed yesterday reports that former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. was being included in the administration senatorial slate but expressed doubts that her relative was really set to run for senator next year.

Magsaysay said she and the former senator were both “very much qualified and accomplished” so it was not unlikely that the two of them would be elected to the Senate.

“These reports (Magsaysay Jr. running for senator) would actually boost our candidacies but the truth is, he has not spoken, it’s only the Liberal Party (LP) that has been making all these noises,” the lawmaker told The STAR.

“We would just be mutually reinforcing each other. He’s accomplished much as I have. The people can see that the Magsaysays are real public servants,” she said.

The former senator is the son of the late President Ramon Magsaysay who died in a plane crash in 1957. Mitos is married to the son of former Zambales Gov. Vic Magsaysay, a nephew of the former senator.

Mitos is one of the senatorial candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada.

She said she would never speak against her relative. “We have no quarrel,” Magsaysay said.

She said the LP has been “insecure” about her candidacy and intended to confuse voters so the administration party had to find someone who could counter her.

“Our elections are now automated so our people will just shade our names (in the ballots),” Magsaysay said.

“I think I’ve been a very effective fiscalizer in the House (of Representatives) and in bringing important issues to the attention of the people and the administration does not want that,” she said.

LP vice chairman Sen. Franklin Drilon earlier told a news forum that he has endorsed Magsaysay as a candidate of the party, bringing to five its current list of bets for the 2013 senatorial polls.

“We have the real Magsaysay,” Drilon said.

President Aquino, chairman of LP, has announced four candidates of the party for the Senate, namely Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority chairman Joel Villanueva, former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros and Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon.