Hontiveros: I’m not dating Llamas

MANILA, Philippines - Team PNoy senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros yesterday denied that she and Akbayan colleague Ronald Llamas are a couple.

“No, I’m not dating Ronald Llamas. He never courted me. We’re just friends,” she told ABS-CBN News Channel’s Karen Davila.

Llamas, a political adviser of President Aquino, has been keeping a low profile since the controversies on the arrest of his aides for carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, and for purchasing pirated DVDs in Quezon City last year.

Hontiveros also denied previous rumors romantically linking her to President Aquino.   

She said she was unfazed by her failure to move up in the rankings as shown in recent surveys, which had her still at number 18 since December last year.

She admitted she has to put in more hours in the campaign to improve her ranking, although she said there would be no major changes in her strategy.  

She expressed belief that the “Team Patay” campaign of some Catholic church leaders against administration and opposition senatorial candidates like her who supported the Reproductive Health law would not affect their winning chances in May.

The senatorial aspirant said she gets along well with fellow Team PNoy candidate Cynthia Villar, whose husband Sen. Manny Villar she had criticized during the 2010 election campaign. – Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy