Administration bets enter final stretch of campaign

MANILA, Philippines - It will be a hectic final stretch for Team PNoy candidates as they try to drum up support for the President’s bid to have most if not all of his senatorial bets in the winning circle in the coming midterm election.

Team PNoy campaign manager Sen. Franklin Drilon yesterday said that the campaign would go to at least 12 more areas around the country, including some places where they have been before.

Asked about how the selection of the sorties was made, Drilon admitted that part of the decision was based on the need to help some of the Liberal Party’s local candidates in their respective bids.

“We also have to help our local candidates in a number of those provinces in order to boost their candidacies also,” Drilon told reporters during the Team PNoy rally in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte.

“I was looking at our calendar, it’s very, very tight and we will be in Negros Oriental, Cebu, Marawi, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Cagayan de Oro, Northern Samar, Western Samar, Southern Leyte, go back to General Santos, Batangas, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Pangasinan,” he added.

The senatorial surveys that have come out in the last two months have shown Team PNoy dominating their United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) rivals.

Nine Team PNoy candidates have been ranked in the top 12 of the surveys, against only three from UNA.

Drilon expressed satisfaction over the 9-3 standing although the target is still to secure a 12-0 victory for the administration.

“We’re satisfied at this stage when all surveys indicate a 9-3 Team PNoy-UNA split. We’re working hard so that we can continue to improve our numbers,” Drilon said.

Among the 12 Team PNoy candidates, only three have not been ranking among the top 12: former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros.

“We’re never contented until we have more in the winning circle. The three, of course they still have a winning chance. We continue to work hard,” Drilon said.

Team PNoy will end the campaign period with a miting de avance in Quezon City with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.