No competition with Escudero, Legarda says

Senator Francis Escudero and Senator Loren Legarda

MANILA, Philippines – They may be neck-and-neck in the number one spot in senatorial surveys but Senator Loren Legarda assured that there was no competition between her and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

“There’s definitely no competition. We will help each other, we will support each other and when we’re re-elected next year, and I hope that is almost certainty, we will continue to help each other in many of our joint advocacies. So there’s definitely no competition,” she said in a weekly forum in the Senate on Thursday.

Legarda twice lost in the vice presidential race but consistently topped the senatorial race when she first ran in 1998 and then in 2007. Escudero was only second to the lady senator when he first ran in 2007.

In 2013, Legarda will again run for her final and last term in the Senate.

“Number one or number 2, I am still a senator so it’s okay with me but of course I am thankful that I have been number one twice. Thank you,” she said in Filipino.

Asked if she was not targetting the number one spot in the next election, she said, “I’m not saying I’m not targetting that. Maybe I am the one being targeted.”

“I don’t ask for it. I don’t target it. It just happens. If you work hard and the people love you – one or two – you’re still a senator. It will be given to you if it’s really for you. It’s not that I don’t like it,” Legarda added.