“We should have more.”

This was the statement of Maria Elena “Ballsy” Aquino-Cruz, eldest sister of Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, as she admitted that her brother should have more ad exposures on television.

“We were told initially that we have to save a certain percentage of what we got for election day but those who know more about these things say that the battle is today, you may not even reach e-day if you don’t make it up there,” Aquino-Cruz said.

“So that’s what I’ve been telling some people who are more into the political side. There were a lot of arguments. They were right after all, we should have more…” she added.

Based on data by a media research firm Aquino only ranked third for total expenditures on political ads with P87 million compared with Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Sen. Manuel Villar who has spent over P120 million from February 9 to March 2 alone.

According to Ballsy, however, they are not thinking anymore about the difficult things they will encounter during the campaign.

“I can’t really complain because so far everything is doing well, of course it’s not perfect but everywhere I’ve been, everyone has just been so warm,” Ballsy said.

The eldest sister of Noynoy said she initially was in the finance committee of her brother’s campaign.

“Many times Noy can’t go to meet his supporters or those who’d like to contribute to the campaign, many of them signified that if Noynoy couldn’t make they wanted any of the sisters to come, they didn’t want to send it through other emissaries. They want to make sure that it went to the right place,” she pointed out.

Ballsy also cleared the issue that her mother former President Corazon Aquino had asked for the diversion of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) into Hacienda Luisita.

“I am very sure she never did. Of course she was happy when former President (Joseph) Estrada inaugurated a Japanese firm at the Luisita Industrial Estate. And when asked by the media, she said of course she was happy if this could be done. But I’m very very sure she never asked (President Arroyo) for that to be done neither did she asked President Estrada,” Ballsy pointed out.

Ballsy said that “a nice solution” to the Hacienda Luisita issue is for investors who are into agri business to “come into the picture by providing more jobs to the people there.”

“None of us is in the board of Hacienda Luisita. Most of the indebtedness of the group of companies and the bank have been taken care of. Of course there are still (debts to be settled) but the big debts are not to the bankers anymore. It’s not that simple and it’s not that easy to sell,” she said.