Five of the Liberal Party senatorial bets who are among the pre-election senatorial survey “tail enders” said their rankings are not discouraging them from pursuing their bids, saying voters’ confidence in Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III will also earn for them a Senate seat.

During a visit to the Manila Bulletin the other day, former Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta, doctor Martin Bautista, lawyer Alexander Lacson, Mindanao peace advocate Yasmin Busran-Lao, and Senator Raul Roco’s widow, Sonia, remain confident that they can earn the trust of the voting public the way the LP standard bearer does as shown in pre-election presidential surveys that Aquino continuously tops.

All five of them did not make it to the Top 12 of the latest Pulse Asia senatorial survey but former Senate President Franklin “Frank” Drilon, former Senator Ralph Recto, former Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III, Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, and Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon did.

Although Acosta, Bautista, Lacson, Busran-Lao, and Roco do not have enough resources to come up with campaign advertisements and to pay for expensive television and radio rates, they said they are largely banking on the people’s preference for Aquino and his running mate, Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.

Aquino and Roxas has been the frontrunners of the majority of past presidential and vice presidential surveys respectively.

“If the people want Noynoy, they also have to see who is around him because he can only be a strong president with the kind of strength and contribution of the people like us around him,” said Acosta, a three-term congressman before joining the senatorial race who ranked 14th in the recent Pulse Asia senatorial survey.

Meanwhile, Busran-Lao said Aquino’s invitation for her to join the LP senatorial slate matters more than what the surveys report.

Busran-Lao counts on transformative politics, where she said voters will reengineer the terrain of politics “away from the hands of the people who have been running just because they have the money but who don’t have the interest of the people in their hearts.”

“Why are we chosen by Noynoy? If Noynoy is a kind of president that is only after winning and not really after genuine reforms, he will chose those people who already have the means to win. But he chose us exactly because he believes that there has to be change. If at the end of the elections, either we win or lose, what is very important is how you feel and think of yourself. After all, the final say and plan are God’s,” Busran said.

As for Lacson, newer faces in politics like him are counting on Aquino and Roxas to introduce them to the public, especially as they lack financial resources to spend on expensive television and radio rates.

“Because Noynoy and Mar are getting a lot of support from the people especially as shown in the surveys, we think they will be able to carry the slate. Our campaign strategy is for Noynoy and Mar to introduce us to the people,” said Lacson, who hails from Negros like the fugitive Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.

The five senatorial candidates said that the LP senate slate will publish a campaign advertisement together with Aquino and Roxas towards the May 10 election day, but said they cannot publish advertisements on their own.

Bautista said he won’t spend as much to raise public awareness on his candidacy, especially as it will entail him to spend a lot of money that “will jeopardize my children’s educational fund.”

“When Mrs. Roco and I both ran for the senate last election, I told them that of you are going to base my campaign on how (former Election Chairman Benjamin) Abalos and (Commissioner Virgilio)  Garcillano counted the votes, I would gladly lose this kind of elections because we are fighting for a higher purpose and for a noble reason,” said Bautista, who is a practicing internal medicine doctor in the United States who left his family abroad for his senate bid.