Senate race shifts to battle of the spokesmen

The battle of spokespersons for the administration’s Team Unity and the opposition’s Grand Coalition kicked off yesterday with this question: "Who is more good-looking?"

While the two coalitions’ spokespersons preferred to be spared from being compared with each other and asked the press to focus on issues, the two did not escape teasing from journalists, especially since elections in the Philippines are often personality-based.

"Well, let me the first to say it, he is more handsome but I am taller," lawyer Adel Tamano, spokesman for the Grand Coalition, said when asked to compare himself to Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, his counterpart from Team Unity.

Tamano appeared before the journalists covering the Senate yesterday to talk about the opposition’s programs and stand on various issues.

When sought for comment, Durano had a ready answer: "I agree. That’s why we’re a perfect combination."

Both Durano and Tamano are scions of prominent families in their respective provinces. Tamano is the son of a former senator from Mindanao and is now a professor at the Far Eastern University (FEU). He obtained his master’s degree in law from Harvard University.

Durano, hails from Cebu and served as the congressman of the province’s fifth district.

The two said in separate interviews that they accepted their jobs as spokesmen without pay and out of pure volunteerism and "love of country."

Durano said he sees no conflict in his two positions and that he is happy to speak for the team with a platform based on the 10-point agenda of President Arroyo.

He said it was better to present various programs that will help improve the people’s living conditions rather than focus on criticisms of the administration, which is what the opposition has been engaging in.

Tamano said that, "at the end of the day, it’s not spokesman versus spokesman – it’s really issue versus issue."

He also said the people should vote for opposition candidates who want jobs as senators instead of voting for those from a team whose members once sought to abolish the upper chamber.

Durano added a bit of levity to the discussion by saying Tamano and he were "together at Ateneo Law School. (Tamano) was the crush ng bayan (everyone’s crush). Ako, crush ng bahay lang (I’m just the crush of the house)."