In separate talks with youth, political, and Mindanao-based leaders, Poe said the inclusion of three representatives from the South in the KNP senatorial slate, two of them Muslim Filipinos, shows how the KNP values Mindanao and the welfare of its residents.
The KNP’s senatorial ticket includes two incumbent Mindanao solons — Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Rep. Didagen Dilangalen — and former National Youth Commission chairwoman Amina Rasul, who also hails from the South. Rasul and Dilangalen are Muslims.
According to Poe, the reason Pimentel withdrew from the selection process for the KNP vice presidential bet was to help him craft immediate and lasting solutions to the woes nagging Mindanao.
"My target dun is how to open (avenues of ) peace in Mindanao. Ang priority natin sa Mindanao is peace. Habang lumiligid ako sa Mindanao, I’ve seen it as an actor kung ano talaga ang nangyayari doon (Our priority in Mindanao is peace. As an actor, I went around Mindanao and saw for myself what is really happening there)," Poe said in separate talks before the Freedom, Peace, and Justice Movement (FPJM), the Association of Integrated Muslim Sector, with youth and other sectoral leaders in Baguio City, and with stalwarts of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) and Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).
"Ang kailangan natin sa Mindanao ay hindi bala at tangke, kundi mga pabahay at paaralan (What we need in Mindanao are not bullets and tanks, but housing and schools)," Poe noted in the meetings.
Earlier, during his meeting with youth leaders in a separate discussion forum with policy experts and members of the academe, Poe stressed that his first order of business once elected is to restore public trust and confidence in government.
The KNP standard bearer said one distinct advantage he has over the other candidates is his status as a non-politician, which means he has no "political baggage" to speak of that would prevent him from opening lines of communication with all sectors of society in Mindanao.
Poe has stressed to his teammates in the KNP ticket that "trust and confidence" will be the campaign battlecry of the united opposition ticket, which is now consulting various sectors in a bid to come up with an action agenda designed to win back the public’s faith in government and its institutions through effective, transparent, and graft-free governance.
Poison text messages
Sen. Loren Legarda, vice presidential candidate of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), bewailed yesterday the continuing demolition job against her and Fernando Poe Jr., KNP presidential candidate, as the Feb. 10 official start of the political campaign leading to the May 10 national and local elections approaches.
Legarda said she is now becoming the new target of poison text messages calling on all teachers not to vote for her for allegedly sponsoring a bill against the rights of public school teachers in the country although Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, former chairman of the Senate education committee, confirmed that there is no pending bill filed by Legarda that would prejudice the cause of the teachers.
Last week, the demolition against Poe, popularly known as FPJ, reached its peak when there were unexplained simultaneous full-page advertisement in the newspapers questioning the citizenship of Poe.
The citizenship issue, specifically on the issue of whether or not Poe is a natural-born Filipino which is a requisite to any presidential bet, was resolved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last week when it dismissed the petition for lack of merit.
These demolition jobs, according to Legarda, are meant to destroy her reputation and integrity but hastened to add that they are not affecting the momentum of her campaign or destroying her political ambition.
"No basis," Legarda said of the demolition jobs as she intimated that a similar smear campaign was launched against her three years ago but this did not succeed.
"Who has the capacity and authority to draw these cellphone numbers of teachers and policemen nationwide? Who benefits from such as demolition job?" former Negros Oriental Rep. Miguel Romero, spokesman of Sen. Edgardo J. Angara, president of the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) party which is one of the three parties that comprise the KNP, said.
"The other side is in a state of panic. It is resorting to all sorts of fabrication and poison texting," Romero pointed out.
Romero rejected any insinuation that another opposition presidential candidate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, could be behind such underhanded maneuvers since both Poe and Lacson are in speaking terms.
Pangilinan said there are no bills on first reading, second reading, or third reading pending in the Senate that denied reasonable compensation to teachers by Legarda or by any senator in the Upper Chamber.
He said Legarda filed Senate Bill (SB) 579, the Integrated Magna Carta of Teachers and Non-Teaching Personnel, to protect the welfare and rights of members of the teaching profession and their families by giving them additional benefits such as increase in wages, overtime pay, and progression in salary scales by means of regular increments, among others, contrary to poison text messages.
The crucial role of teachers, according to Legarda, in education and development of our most valuable human resources should be given due recognition.
To motivate these men and women in the teaching profession, the government must provide promotion and protection to ensure reasonable and dignified standard of living for them and their families, Legarda said.
"This cowardly act intended to destroy my good standing as senator for more than five years will not prosper," she pointed out.
Legarda said that this demolition job "is a politically motivated approach by a desperate individual who is afraid to come out in the open and resort to text messaging instead." (Mario B. Casayuran)
