Aquino to campaign for Team PNoy bets

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will actively campaign for his Team PNoy candidates for the Senate because of the importance of a majority victory before the last half of his administration, according to Sen. Franklin Drilon.

Drilon, Team PNoy campaign manager, reiterated that this May’s midterm election will be a referendum on the President - meaning the vote of the people will reflect how much more of the same type of governance they want until 2016.

“If our people believe that the President’s programs are bearing fruit, then I think that should be the basis for the people to vote for team PNoy,” he said.

He explained that the President, as the political leader of the administration, has the right and the obligation to campaign for his candidates.

Drilon said that the President needs people in Congress who are supportive of his programs in order for them to be effective.

Team PNoy consists of incumbent Senators Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, former Akbayan party-list Rep. Riza Hontiveros, former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, former Las Piñas City Rep. Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe-Llamanzares and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV.

Drilon said that the administration’s goal to get all 12 of its candidates in the Senate is a tall order, but they are confident that the people will put the President’s candidates in the Senate because they will push the reforms that he has started.

“To achieve a 6.6 percent growth in the GDP (gross domestic product) was a tall order when we started this administration. Having the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia is a tall order. Passing the sin tax was a tall order,” he said.