Only 3 senatorial bets sign HOPE covenant

MANILA, Philippines - Only three out of the 33 senatorial candidates attended yesterday’s ecumenical prayer for peaceful and honest elections hosted by three Church groups in San Juan.

Former Senate president Ernesto Maceda, re-electionist Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, and Bangon Pilipinas’ lone senatorial bet Eddie Villanueva signed the manifesto for honest, orderly, and peaceful elections (HOPE) after the ecumenical prayer at Club Filipino.

“I commit myself to the practice of honesty and the promotion of orderliness and peace in the coming May 13, 2013 elections. In pursuing a seat at the august chambers of the Senate, I will not forget that my political foes are in fact my brothers, and heirs of the same destiny,” the manifesto read.

The three candidates also vowed to promote peace. “I will not court controversies nor start them. I will solicit people’s approval with fairness and pay proper respect to whom respect is due,” it said.

The candidates also committed to “deem my fiercest political rival as my most esteemed pal.”

They also vowed not to use guns and goons to ensure the conduct of peaceful and orderly polls.

Villanueva said that he will help steer the country to more progress – “the way it was some decades ago when the Philippines is ahead of other countries in terms of economy at the Asian region” – if he wins a Senate seat.

He said he also wants to address the plight of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), especially those who suffered violence at the hands of their employers and yet are unable to go back home because the embassies do not have enough budget to buy plane tickets to bring them home.