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STA CRUZ, LAGUNA, Philippines—With the 2013 midterm elections fast approaching, Team PNoy senatorial candidates are now free to campaign on their own, President Benigno Aquino III said on Friday.
This was how the President explained the non-appearance of many senatorial bets in their provincial sorties.
Only three candidates – re-electionist Senator Loren Legarda, former Senator Jamby Madrigal and former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros—were present in the campaign sortie held at the town’s plaza here and attended by the President himself.
“Each candidate has different needs. There are areas where you are already strong, but there are areas where you really have to work harder. So of course, if you are the candidate, you want to maximize the opportunity to get all the votes,” Aquino told reporters after his speech during the sortie.
“So we give them freedom and we’ve agreed on it from the start that all candidates are free to campaign according to their needs,” he pointed out.