from The Daily Tribune
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20100219hed5.htmlGAPAN, Nueva Ecija — Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday said the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) candidates will have to campaign and work harder to offset its meager campaign funds.
Estrada, who flew in by helicopter from Manila and motored from Cabciao to Gapan City, said the party is facing some campaign funding problems. He said that campaign contributions are hard to come by compared to his campaign in 1998.
“That is our problem today—we have insufficient campaign funds. There are some contributors, of course, but these come in trickles,” Estrada said in an interview before speaking to a crowd of over 7,000 at the Gapan City Gymnasium.
PMP vice presidential candidate Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and senatorial candidates Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Francisco Tatad, Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Plaza and former Rep. Jun Lozada were with Erap in his Nueva Ecija sortie.
They are scheduled to motor through the towns of Munoz, Talavera and Sta. Rosa.
News reports said that the PMP has the least campaign expenses among other political parties.
Estrada said the campaign contributions were not as big as when he first run in 1998 when he won a landslide of over 11 million votes.
“This is probably because of the dire economic conditions today, “ he told a handful of reporters who motored from Manila to this northern city.
He also said that the more meaningful surveys would be coming out a month or so before the elections when the electorate shall have been decided on who they would vote, adding that he is now concentrating on provincial sorties to reach out to more people instead of coming up with television and radio advertisements which are very expensive.
Estrada noted that the people would not be swayed by bombarding them with television, print and radio commercials, saying that the electorate would also not succumb to those who buy their votes.
“The masses are intelligent,” he said explaining that the people know those who spend so much for their campaign, those that try to buy their votes, would end up trying to recover their campaign expenses.
Reelectionist Senator Estrada said the PMP will try to pour in more campaign funds once ratings improve.
Jinggoy said that he is hoping that when his father’s rating improves, campaign funds would also pour in.
Like his father, Jinggoy said that he is working hard to campaign and reach out to more people because he cannot compete with the other “moneyed” candidates from other political parties.
In Iloilo, yesterday, it was the Nacionalista Party’s (NP) turn to dig up the dirt on the Liberal Party (LP), accusing its leader and vice presidential bet of colluding with multinational pharmaceutical companies against the slashing of the prices of medicines.
Two of the main proponents of the law ? Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico and Iloilo City Rep. Ferjenil Biron (4th District), insinuated that Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas supposedly benefited from a purported P1 billion lobby fund put up by a group of major pharmaceutical firms blocking the adoption of the said legislation.
“The people out to know the real issue behind the Cheaper Medicines Law because he (Biron) is the author and not the one presenting himself as the author (of the law),” Sen. Loren Legarda, guest candidate and vice presidential bet of NP, told reporters in a press conference held at Hotel Del Rio in Iloilo City where the party of presidentiable Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. was campaigning.
In backing up claims insinuating Roxasf receipt of lobby money, Legarda, Suplico and Biron claimed that the senator “watered down” the law by removing the provision mandating pricing mechanism and make it more favorable to drug companies.
“This law is really anti-poor. It is pro-multinational (drug companies),” said Legarda, as she repeatedly chided Roxas for capitalizing on the said law to advance his bid for the vice presidency.
The NP bets blasted Roxas, saying he was taking credit for the cheap medicines act yet all he did, they said was to introduce a provision making conditional (the price cut) by requiring the recommendation of the secretary of health and approval of the President,” Biron said.
Suplico said: “For me, it appeared that he was protecting the interests of the pharmaceutical firms,” adding that at the time when he was still participating on the deliberations of the bill at the lower house, a supposed P1 billion lobby fund was put up by a group of pharmaceutical companies.
“This was in 1999, when Roxas was still DTI secretary of the Estrada administration. In fact, let me just say, one of the major consultants of Erap was offered $1 million. I got it from a from a very reliable source that an offer was made,” said Suplico.
“What I am saying is we did not receive, we did not accept bribes then. There were offers to me then but we rejected it. Remember I was the sole author at that time. I don’t know if he received any (lobby fund),” he said.
In Binan, Laguna, local chief executives vowed to work for the victory of Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer and former defense secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. in the May 10 elections with the governor no less plus over 25 incumbent mayors in the vote-rich province pledging their solid support behind his surging candidacy.
The pledge of support was led by Gov. Teresita “Ningning” Lazaro, who said that Gibo, a Harvard-trained lawyer and 1989 bar topnotcher, is not only intellectually superior to his rivals in the presidential race, but also has a clear platform of government that would further spur the growth of Laguna’s robust economy.
Twenty-five of Laguna’s 30 municipal and city mayors have already pledged their support for Gibo, along with several vice mayors in the province, Lazaro said.
“We have a complete lineup of mayors of whom 25 are incumbent mayors and the rest are incumbent vice mayors running for mayoral posts,” Lazaro said. “All are solidly behind Gibo.”
In his visit to the province, Gibo was practically mobbed by students during his motorcades and campus tours at the Colegio de San Pedro and the University of Perpetual Help in Biñan.
On separate occasions, Gibo exhorted students from the two schools to exercise their right to vote and choose on May 10, pointing out that their sector-the youth-would shape the outcome of the elections because it constitutes the biggest voting bloc in this year’s national balloting.
“The Filipino youth of today are fortunate because they have all the means to gather the information they need to find out in choosing the right candidate in the elections. They have all the technology at their disposal, including mass media like TV, radio and newspapers, and even the Internet,”Gibo said.
“Use your power in an informed way. You have to participate not only by listening but by seeking, researching and finding out the truth behind major issues,” he added. Angie M. Rosales, Gerry Baldo and Jason Faustino
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