Magsaysay is Ser Chief’s guy

Ramon Magsaysay Jr.: Ser Chief’s friend. INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Senatorial candidate Ramon Magsaysay Jr. knew he was doing something right when several youngsters approached him at the Naia Terminal 2 earlier this week and asked whether he was “Ser Chief’s friend.”

When Magsaysay said “yes,” the Bacolod-bound children waved their adult companions over. Instantly, the adults gathered around Magsaysay, a Team PNoy candidate and a former senator, and asked to have their pictures taken with him.

Ser Chief is a popular character in a TV soap, played by Richard Yap, who is currently ABS-CBN network’s hottest talent. Yap had offered to endorse Magsaysay’s candidacy in a political advertisement that has been airing for the past two weeks.

The Magsaysay campaign has prepared another 30-seconder, this time featuring the candidate with GMA 7 top actor and “family friend” Dingdong Dantes who is also endorsing his comeback to the Senate.

“They offered their services pro bono. Both said they would like to endorse me and I have taken that opportunity,” Magsaysay said in a phone interview.

Since he is not known as a traditional politician, why is he getting popular entertainers to endorse his candidacy?

He said Yap and Dantes have committed to improving education in the country. “We have this affinity,” he said.

Magsaysay, 74, admits to having some difficulty reaching out to the younger demographic because of his age.

Yap, a De La Salle University engineering graduate in his early 40s and Dantes, a former Ateneo student in his 30s, would already cover a lot of ground, he said.

Dantes had already campaigned for him in his previous Senate run in 2001.

“He would tag along with us distributing leaflets,” Magsaysay said of the actor who was then barely out of his teens.

At the time, Dantes showed an avid interest in political processes after observing the impeachment trial of deposed president and convicted plunderer Joseph Estrada, he said.

Magsaysay noted that the new voters, who seem to be more aggressive in delving into the background of the candidates, are not familiar with the work he has done, particularly during his previous two terms in the Senate.

But Magsaysay’s information technology expertise as erstwhile chairman of the Senate science and technology committee is evident in his high visibility on social networking sites.

A check with his Twitter account shows him to have a fan base. And his TV ad with Yap has apparently already made an impact.

Team PNoy campaign manager Sen. Franklin Drilon earlier said he was confident that a 10th Team PNoy bet would enter the Top 12 once the preference surveys conducted in early April are released to media.

So far, the administration coalition dominates the Senate race, 9 to 3, against the rival United Nationalist Alliance, if the surveys are to be believed.

Magsaysay refused to confirm whether he would be the 10th Team PNoy candidate to make it to the magic circle. “I might be accused of trending,” he said.

Magsaysay, Risa Hontiveros and Jamby Madrigal are the only Team PNoy candidates who have not made it to the Top 12 in the candidate preference surveys.