Team PNoy, UNA head to Baguio on same day

Baguio City: Where Team PNoy and the opposition party UNA are headed on Sunday, March 17, 2013, to campaign for their senatorial candidates. UNA campaign manager Toby Tiangco believes UNA will attract many people to its rally. PHOTO BY RICK ALBERTO

MANILA, Philippines-The campaign trail is expected to heat up in the country’s summer capital when the two major political alliances hold their respective sorties there on Sunday.

The administration coalition’s Team PNoy and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) are both planning to court votes in Baguio City on Sunday, based on their campaign schedules, which were released to the media and confirmed by their spokespersons.

Team PNoy will come from La Union before proceeding to Baguio, while UNA will have a Pampanga sortie on Saturday before its Baguio leg.

UNA campaign manager Toby Tiangco said the alliance did not deliberately schedule its Baguio rally to coincide with that of the Team PNoy coalition’s.

Tiangco explained that UNA was heading to the City of Pines on Sunday because its top leader, Vice President Jejomar Binay, would be there the same day on official business.

UNA set its schedule to conform with that of Binay’s so the latter could join the campaign rally, he said.

Tiangco also said he was not worried about the possibility of going head to head with Team PNoy, noting that UNA’s sorties had been well attended.

“That is OK with us. We will see which of us can draw the bigger crowd,” he said in a phone interview.

Tiangco believes UNA will attract many people to its rally, adding that it has a local ally in Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan.

UNA earlier said it had been drawing larger crowds compared to the administration coalition, and claimed that the latter has been struggling to get people to attend its campaign rallies.—Leila B. Salaverria