Certain that it has reached the main objective in the May 10 elections, one of the driving forces that propelled Liberal Party (LP) presidential bet Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to a looming overwhelming poll victory has transformed itself into a social advocacy group with a new goal – to make sure that the next president makes good his promise to fight corruption in the government and poverty among Filipinos.

Headed by Ed Roces as president and Peachy Prieto as chairperson, the Ninoy Aquino for President Movement is not resting on its laurels of achieving victory for Aquino. Instead of disbanding, NAPM has re-christened itself but retained its acronym as the Nagkakaisang Alyansa ng Makabayang Pilipino.

“The NAPM will continue to advocate issues that it believes will help alleviate the plight of the poor. The first two are power rates and debt audit,” explained former Quezon City Mayor Brigido Simon Jr., who heads the QC chapter of NAPM.

The organization has opened its doors to non-Aquino supporters even as it called pushed for national unity in its bid to achieve its mission to help government eradicate poverty in the country.

In fact, key supporters of Aquino’s presidential rivals were among those invited during an NAPM-sponsored briefing on national debt that was conducted by the Freedom from Debt Coalition last Monday.

Present were campaign backers of presidential candidates Sen. Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, and vice presidential candidate former Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando. Also seen were NAPM members who opted to support Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, instead of Aquino’s runningmate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II.

Simon, a staunch ally of the Aquino family, said the NAPM will sponsor a series of lectures and briefings on various issues affecting impoverished Filipinos in order that the organization could properly plan out programs to fight poverty.

Like Binay and former Manila Mayor Mel Lopez, Simon was an appointee as OIC-mayor when Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon C. Aquino, was catapulted to Malacañang following the popular 1986 People Power revolt.

Reportedly a strong contender to head the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Simon won the 1988 QC mayoral race that saw him launching the “zero-graft, maximum efficiency” policy and a socialized housing scheme that served as the prototype of the national government’s housing program.

Simon said the FDC proposed a 12-point agenda that they want the next government administration and the 15th Congress to pursue in order to effectively fight poverty and cushion the impact of an impending fiscal crisis triggered by a huge budgetary deficit.

The former QC executive said the NAPM will strongly lobby for the conduct of an official debt audit which was proposed but later shelved during the 13th and 14th Congress.

A debt audit would determine which foreign loans are “illegitimate” or mainly wasted through corrupt practices of previous governments.

The FDC wants the government to temporarily suspend payments for suspected illegitimate borrowings pending the completion of the audit process.