Senator and presidential aspirant Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III arrived here Tuesday to campaign in the province ruled by the family and relatives of former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
Marcos is the wife of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, who was blamed for the death of the senator's father and namesake, martyred Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.
Marcos' son, Ilocos Norte Representative Ferdinand "Bong-Bong" Marcos Jr. is running for senator under the banner of Nacionalista Party’s bet Senator Manny Villar, known as Aquino's closest rival.
Senator Aquino said he isconfident of getting the support of residents here just like what they did when they voted for him in the 2007 senatorial race.
"Ah maganda ho resulta natin dito sa Tacloban noong senatorial election (The result here in Tacloban when we ran in the senatorial elections was good). Maganda ho ang pagtanggap sa atin noong senatorial race (The support for us here during the senatorial race was good) and I expect the same or even more," he told reporters when he arrived here shortly before 4:00 p.m.
The senator was accompanied by his running mate, Senator Mar Roxas.
"Tayo po ay nandito, susuyo sa ating mga kapatid sa Leyte (We are here to court our brothers in Leyte)," he said.
The tandem was about two hours behind the scheduled arrival of 1: 40 pm, citing some unexpected occurrences while campaigning in another city here.
Actor Richard Gomez, an LP member, was among those, who received Aquino and Roxas at the airport.
Gomez is seeking a congressional seat as representative of Ormoc City but was disqualified by the Commission on Elections “for lack of residency requirements.”
Because of the delay, Aquino failed to show up in some radio interviews here. He proceeded instead to a press conference held at the Leyte Park Hotel.
The highlight of his campaign here would be a multi-sectoral forum with businessmen in the evening to be held at the Asia Convention Center.
Asked by a reporter why there was no political rally in his schedule, Aquino explained that this would take more time than going to local radio stations or television to reach the masses.
"Babalik kami dito pagdating ng local elections pero ang tinatarget kasi namin (We will return during the local campaign period but what we are targeting is) something like 27 provinces in three weeks and to try and mazimize the reach and to maximize the reach, you will have to go through media either radio or TV or both," he said.
"Dahil pag nag rally tayo mahaba na oras na kakailanganin po nun, hindi makakaya ang 27 provinces maski tig-iisang rally po yun at di maabot ang mga botanteng gustong maabot (Because if we hold a rally, it will take longer and we can't cover 27 provinces even if we hold only one rally. We cannot reach the voters that we want to reach)," he further said.
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