Vilma Santos to appear in TV ad with Aquino

Will the Vilmanians vote for Noynoy?

With only three more weeks to go before the elections, the Liberal Party (LP) is expected to come out with a TV ad showing one of its showbiz heavyweights, Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos, endorsing LP standard-bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Santos, whom the administration tried to enlist as its vice-presidential bet, endorsed Aquino in a political rally here on Saturday night but the LP is still coming out with the ad to reach more voters, particularly the millions of Vilmanians or Santos’ fans around the country.

“I’m also one of the leaders looking forward to a new change, a better change, a positive change for our countrymen,” Santos said in an interview with reporters.

She said her political ad with Aquino “might come out anytime next week.”

“If you have good intentions, people will support you and people will believe in you,” said Santos.

“We are doing our best because we mean well for our country. And me being the governor of Batangas, I mean well for my constituents here in Batangas,” she added.

Santos, who is running for reelection, said that while she and the LP were leading in the surveys, it would not be an “easy fight” because administration forces have been rallying against them.

“Well, so far we’re doing good but you know very well that Batangas is being dominated by the administration. At this point in time, we are the opposition. But the thing is, we’re giving a good fight,” said Santos.

“If I may be honest, it’s not an easy fight. But I think we are in comfortable numbers if we talk about the surveys,” she added.

Santos also used to be with the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition but she and her husband, former senator Ralph Recto, bolted from the administration camp and joined the LP. Recto is running as an LP senatorial candidate in this coming elections.

Santos said a survey conducted in the last week of March showed Aquino having a double-digit lead over Nacionalista Pary presidential bet and Senator Manuel Villar in Batangas.

“The last survey that we had showed that the gap was wide. Double-digit number. The LP of Noynoy and of course Mar Roxas had very high numbers,” she said.

Santos said voter turnout in the last election was as high as 85 percent. Santos is hoping for at least the same turnout of 1.2 million voters in the May 10 elections.

“My lead over my opponent in the last elections was 135,000. I hope (to get the same results) because the issue now is the (administration forces) are merging and I am now the opposition,” Santos said.

“I’m telling you it’s not easy but so far we’re getting good numbers and am happy with that,” she added.

Aquino said he was not considering Batangas as a “battleground” province because he said the surveys had shown that the province and the whole of Southern Tagalog was his “bailiwick.”

“All the surveys we have point to us being up. It’s just Southern Tagalog is supposed to be our bailiwick collectively and individually. But of course, you also cannot ignore your bailiwick,” Aquino said.

He said the last surveys showed him leading in all geographical regions in the country.

Aquino said he has been visiting areas where he could increase his votes further to make it harder for his opponents to cheat him.

“I was told that in the last survey, I was leading across the board, in all the regions,” he said.

“This particular week, the idea (is to visit) these areas where we have good potential of getting more votes,” he added.

The LP presidential bet visited Cebu, Negros, Iloilo, and Capiz earlier this week before going to Quezon, Laguna, and Batangas on Saturday.