3 UNA bets get White Vote endorsement

MANILA, Philippines - The White Vote Movement endorsed senatorial candidates Richard Gordon, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Nancy Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) last Saturday night.

El Shaddai spiritual leader Mike Velarde presented the three candidates before the Catholic charismatic group during a prayer gathering at the Amvel compound in Parañaque.

Binay said Velarde and his wife Belen were her godparents during her wedding.

Binay, Zubiri and Gordon vowed to fight for life if elected to the Senate.

“Children are blessings from God, it is wrong to think that the children are obstacles,” Binay said.

Zubiri said the Philippines must not become a Singapore in terms of population because half of the people living in Singapore are not natives. 

Last April 13, the White Vote Movement endorsed five senatorial candidates who fought the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Law.

They are Sens. Gregorio Honasan, Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes, and Reps. Mitos Magsaysay of Zambales and JV Ejercito of San Juan.

The White Vote Movement also endorsed former lawmaker Cynthia Villar, whose husband Sen. Manuel Villar voted against the RH Law.

Velarde clarified the decision to vote for the candidates they have endorsed lies with the people.

“Endorsement does not mean imposing,” he said. 

Another endorsement

The Makabayan coalition endorsed yesterday senatorial candidates Teddy Casiño, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Pimentel III, Grace Poe, former senator Jamby Madrigal and Villar.         

It is not supporting any UNA candidate.         

STAR columnist and former lawmaker Satur Ocampo said the coalition is endorsing the seven Team PNoy senatorial candidates because like Makabayan, they “champion several people’s issues and advocacies which we deem important to the life of our nation.”         

Most of the seven were consistent allies of progressive lawmakers and activist groups in the fight against corruption and abuses during the Arroyo administration, he added.         

Ocampo said Makabayan shares Cayetano’s “presyo, trabaho at kita” advocacy, specifically the lowering of prices of basic commodities, generating jobs and increasing people’s income.         

Madrigal is a staunch advocate of peace talks, human rights, economic nationalism and the protection of the environment, he added.

– Evelyn Macairan, Jess Diaz