‘They’re not thieves, they won’t betray your trust,’ Aquino says of LP bets

President Benigno Aquino III leads Monday the proclamation of Liberal Party coalition members at Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines–President Benigno Aquino III said Monday that the 12 candidates chosen for the senatorial slate of the Liberal Party (LP) “are not thieves” and “they will not betray your trust.”

“I can assure you this: these twelve candidates our alliance is offering are the ones who will help us reap the fruits of the reforms we have laid out these past two years,” Aquino said in his speech during the official proclamation of the LP 2013 senatorial slate.

“They swear to us: They are not thieves. They will further accelerate the change we have been enjoying. They will not betray your trust. You, our countrymen, are still our bosses,” he added.

The LP line up is composed of candidates from several political parties. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, and former senator Jamby Madrigal are from the LP.

Former Las Piñas representative and senator Manuel Villar’s wife, Cynthia Villar, and Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano are from the Nacionalista Party (NP).

The rest of the candidates are Sen. Loren Legarda from the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), former Akbayan partylist representative Risa Hontiveros, Aurora representative Juan Edgardo Angara of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), and independent candidates Sen. Francis Escudero, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and MTRCB Chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares.

“These twelve represent the LP-Akbayan-NPC-NP-LDP-NUP alliance. They are the ones who responded to our call to form a coalition of those who share the same beliefs, and who promised to advance the agenda of good governance,” Aquino said.

He again called on his bosses to vote in favor of the ruling party so they will be able to continue with their reforms and to solve the problems he inherited from the previous administration.

“I have already worked with many of them. They are those who stood their ground when the runaway train of the past administration bore down on them; it would have been easy for them to side with the wrong, and reap countless benefits. Instead, they chose to risk everything for what was right, and make their stand against corruption with the Filipino people,” Aquino said.

“To our bosses: You will decide where this country goes. You will decide on whether we will keep doing the right thing. You must send a resounding message: These reforms are right; change is right; what you, the Filipino people, have done these past two years was right. Now, we are giving you those who will help you achieve change faster,” Aquino added.