Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III with Sen. Franklin Drilon during the meeting with local leaders and the community at the Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Complex, Cagayan de Oro City. FILE PHOTO
STA. CRUZ, Laguna, Philippines—The campaign manager of the administration coalition expressed confidence Friday that the Team PNoy senatorial ticket would win in this Southern Tagalog province despite the incumbency of a governor who’s a member of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance.
Senator Franklin Drilon, the campaign manager of the Team PNoy ticket, said that President Benigno Aquino’s popularity could also carry Laguna Representative Egay San Luis to victory in his bid to wrest the provincial capitol from Laguna Governor ER Ejercito of UNA.
Ejercito is a nephew of former president Joseph Estrada, one of the so-called Three Kings of the opposition alliance. The other two are Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
“The governor of Laguna is a member of UNA but the President of the country is a member of Team PNoy. That’s why, in our view, Laguna loves the President and Team PNoy has a huge chance of winning in Laguna,” Drilon told reporters after a campaign rally at the Sta. Cruz town plaza.
“The support for Team PNoy in Laguna is 80 percent. We believe that we will win here in May,” he added.
Asked if Team PNoy supporters in Laguna could deliver a 12-0 sweep for the administration’s senatorial candidates, Drilon said: “We’re still working on that. We are not giving up. As of now, we’re at 9-3.”
“We still have one month. We can still do a lot to have the whole team win,” Drilon added.
President Benigno Aquino and senatorial candidates Loren Legarda, Jamby Madrigal and Risa Hontiveros campaigned in Sta. Cruz to push for their candidacies as well as endorse the gubernatorial bid of San Luis.