Roco hurled the new accusation against unnamed rivals during a rally at the Tarlac State University, after leading the Alyansa ng Pag-asa national ticket to a motorcade in various towns in Tarlac province.
Together with running mate Herminio Aquino and the seven-man senatorial slate, Roco said he was moved by the enthusiasm of Tarlac folks in welcoming the team.
Roco said ordinary people swarmed members of his ticket in many places they visited.
"Nakikita naman kasi sa kampanya naming, genuine kaming humihingi ng tulong sa tao. Yung iba, they pay money to bring in the crowd. Yung isa naman, artista to pull the crowd (Our campaign shows that we are genuinely asking for people’s help. One candidate pays money to bring in crowd. The other, uses movie stars to pull the crowd)," he said.
This was the second time Roco criticized rivals during provincial campaign sorties.
In Compostela Valley, the presidential bet accused Koalisyon ng Katatagan at Karanasan para sa Kinabukasan (K-4) bet President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of exploiting the Oslo peace negotiations between government and the National Democratic Front for political gains.
In a media interview in Mati, Davao Oriental, Roco dared rivals to a debate to be covered live on national television, offering them a handicap of bringing in at least two consultants.
The challenge was apparently addressed to Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. who has been known to deliver short speeches and has been dodging interviews with journalists.
Of the five bets, only evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva and President Arroyo have accepted Roco’s dare.
Roco said his visit to Tarlac has brought in memories of his political mentors, the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., who is a nephew of Pag-asa vice presidential bet Aquino.
"My political roots are in Tarlac. My first real campaign nationally was with Ninoy Aquino," Roco said.
According to Roco, he was a member of the late senator’s legal staff that drafted the "Study Now, Pay Later" law.
The Pag-asa ticket has made raves in their campus tours for espousing a free education program for all levels, particularly college.
Senatorial bet Mel "Batas" Mauricio said the scholarship package to be offered by the Roco team, in case it wins, will cover even students who are getting low grades but are too poor to continue with their education.
"Access to free education should not be limited to intelligent students. Under a Roco government, poverty will be the main requisite for a student to be a government scholar," Mauricio explained.
Filipino artists challenged
Presidential candidate Raul Roco of the Aksyon Demokratiko and Alyansa ng Pag-Asa challenged Filipino artists to find what is unique about the Philippines culture especially with globalization as he cited them as the nation’s hopes.
Under a fast globalizing trend in culture, there is a tendency towards sameness and uniformity among countries. Cities like London, Beijing, Tokyo, New York, and Manila are starting to sound, look, and taste like one another, Roco told a convention the other afternoon of 8,000 artists, cultural workers, art managers, researchers, scholars, art educators, and related workers at the Folk Arts Theater in Pasay City.
The role of the Filipino artists, Roco said, is to find what is unique about Philippine culture. He said he has trust and confidence in the creativity of the Filipino artist to find out and communicate what is unique in Philippine music, painting, sculpture, architecture, design, film, theater, literature, and other art forms.
Artists, as people who feel, think, and appreciate the arts are powerful sources of a nation’s hopes, Roco said.
"A creative society in a self-reliant nation is Raul Roco’s vision of the role of artists as heroes in Philippine society," he said.
