The Liberal Party (LP) had nothing to do with the withdrawal of an invitation to Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero to attend the province of Tawi-Tawi’s foundation day celebration today, according to Senate President Franklin Drilon, the party’s vice chair.
Drilon, in a radio interview, said the LP did not make it a practice to bar political rivals from the bailiwicks of its members.
He said candidates not with the administration party visited his home province of Iloilo almost every day.
He also noted that there have been many accusations leveled against the LP, but they were not true.
Poe and Escudero, who together are running for president and vice president, respectively, in next year’s elections, earlier said they were disinvited from Tawi-Tawi’s Kamahardikaan Festival for “political reasons.”
The invitation had come from Governor Nurbert Sahali and Rep. Ruby Sahali, who are both LP members.
“We understand that it must have been very difficult for them to withdraw the invitation. But in spite of this, we express our heartfelt appreciation for all their efforts,” the senators had said in a joint statement.
They were invited to the event on July 20, two months before they officially announced their plans to run for higher office as an independent team.
Poe will be up against LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas who, before she declared her run for the presidency, had asked Poe to be his running mate.