Escudero: It’s up to UNA to drop guest candidates

Senator Francis Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero is now leaving it up to the United Nationalist Alliance to decide whether or not to drop its guest candidates who may not comply with the group’s wishes.

After all, Escudero acknowledged that he was just an adopted candidate of UNA.

Aside from him, the two other adopted candidates of UNA are Senator Loren Legarda and former MTRCB chairperson Grace Poe. All three are officially running under the senatorial ticket of the Liberal Party-led coalition.

“Nasa kanila naman yun. Sila ang nag adopt sa amin, may kapangyarihan din silang gawin yun kung gusto nila. (It’s up to them. They are the ones who adopted us, so they also have the power to do that if they want to),” Escudero told reporters on Tuesday.

“Hindi naman namin dinikta na i-adopt kami. Nagpasalamat kami sa adoption. Kung magbabago isip nila, nasa kanila na yun (We did not ask them to adopt us.  We are grateful that they adopted us. If they change their mind, it’s their decision),” he further said.

The senator was reacting to another UNA bet, former Senator Ernesto Maceda, who had reportedly said that they may be forced to drop any of the three candidates who will show up in LP sorties but not in UNA activities.

Asked if he was threatened by Maceda’s statement, Escudero said, “Hindi naman sa hindi threatened pero nasa sa kanila yun e (It’s not that I’m not threatened, but it’s up to them.”

This was the reason, he said, he does not join any political group because he does not want to be controlled or restricted by the group’s interest.

“Sana sumali na ako, namili na ako noong una. Either I joined UNA para tapos na…” the senator added.

While he said he had nothing against UNA, Escudero pointed out that only the names, and not their faces, were used by the group when it launched its television advertisement.

“Ang mas tamang tanong, isinama kami sa ad ng UNA pero hindi naman nilagay mga mukha namin dun. Ni hindi kami naimbitahan dun. Sinabihan lang kami na may ad…(The right question is, we were included in the UNA ad but they did not put our faces there. We were not even invited. We were just informed that there is an ad.”

Asked again if he had any ill-feeling against UNA, the senator said, “Wala, wala. Dagdag yun para sa amin bakit hindi? Sino naman kami para mamili, inampon lang naman kami. Buti kung anak ka, buong buo.”