Escudero won’t let wife Heart outshine him in sorties

DESPITE being married to a well-known TV and movie actress, Sen. Francis Escudero said his wife Heart Evangelista was unlikely to feature in any advertisements endorsing his vice presidential bid.

“It’s not in our plans. It’s enough that she’s my wife,” Escudero told reporters at a Senate forum.

Nevertheless, Evangelista will be helping in his campaign, he said. She will canvass votes for him if she’s not busy with her show business commitments, which are her priority, he said.

But the couple would likely campaign separately so that they will be able to cover more ground, Escudero said.

If he goes with Evangelista, he might be elbowed out of the way by her fans, he said.

“It has happened, and I don’t want it to happen again,” he said.

He also said Evangelista may be campaigning with her movie star friend, Lovi Poe, the half-sister of Sen. Grace Poe, Escudero’s running mate.

Escudero said he has yet to shoot a TV ad with endorsements from prominent personalities, but is unlikely to do so because it would be very expensive. Shooting an advertisement is pricey enough, and paying someone to promote you is another expense, he said.

Getting celebrity endorsers is one of the go-to practices of politicians soliciting votes.

Recently, Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas appeared in a star-studded music video with his running mate, Leni Robredo.

Escudero and Poe have built-in celebrity ties. Escudero has his movie star wife, while Poe’s adoptive parents are the popular movie couple Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces.