Accompanying Aquino to disaster-stricken areas “not early campaining”, says Rep. Angara

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara. Joseph Vidal/PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Despite receiving criticisms for what netizens saw as campaigning when President Benigno Aquino III went on rounds at several evacuation centers in Metro Manila with members of the Liberal Party, Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara who was part of the group, maintained on Friday that what they did was not “early campaining.”

In a message sent to reporters, Angara said that when they were asked to accompany the President to help flood victims staying at evacuation centers “we didn’t think twice. Between helping and staying, I chose to help. Most would have done the same.”

“We didn’t think of it as early campaining,” insisted the lawmaker who has yet to determine whether he was running for senator in the 2013 midterm elections. He has however been endorsed by Aquino on several occasions.

Aside from Angara, the President’s celebrity sister Kris Aquino, Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas, Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Joel Villanueva, and former Akbayan party-list Representative Risa Hontiveros tagged along with Aquino when he paid a visit to an evacuation center in flood-hit Muntinlupa City. They accompanied him to distribute relief items in several more evacuation centers in the cities of Marikina and Valenzuela.

Aquino has earlier defended the presence of his allied from LP, saying that each personality represented agencies in the government and could help in pushing for relevant programs for the people.

But irked netizens, upon seeing photos of the President with LP allies, took to social networking sites, criticizing the group for what they perceived as campaining in the middle of a disaster.