By Ronron
February 11, 2007
Two former Senators and the widow of another former Senator filed their respective candidacies for the same position at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manila Sunday.
First to file was Sonia Roco, the 62-year-old widow of former Senator and Presidentiable Raul Roco, who submitted her certificate of candidacy (COC) at 9:26 am in the company of United Opposition (UNO) President Jejomar Binay and San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito.
Roco is running under her late husband’s Aksyon Demokratiko (Democratic Action) political party, but in alliance with the UNO after she was chosen as Ejercito’s replacement.
“His sacrifice (to withdraw from the Senatorial race) is very admirable of him. So I thank him a lot,” Roco said of Ejercito.
Ejercito was asked by his father, jailed former President Joseph Estrada, to offer his slot at the UNO to Roco apparently to avoid further rifts within UNO, which was criticized for promoting political dynasties in the Senate.
Roco said that more than promoting the welfare of women, she is also geared at improving the country’s education system being an educator herself.
Next to her in the list of those who filed candidacies is former Senator and entertainer Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who is running under the administration-allied Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).
The 58-year-old aspirant filed his COC at 10:15 am, the 47th in the list. He was accompanied by his actress wife, Helen Gamboa, entertainer daughter Ciara, and entertainer brother Vic, among others.
Although he admitted that the NPC leadership has yet to formally announce its alliance with the so-called Team Unity of the administration, Sotto expressed confidence that he will already be running under it.
Being an ally of the late opposition Presidentiable Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ), Sotto said he expects people to say negative things about his alliance now with the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
But he urged the people to let him keep his “peace” with the administration since his main consideration for joining the latter’s line-up is “unity” and “national development.”
“I believe that if FPJ is still alive, he would support my decision and all my undertakings… All he wanted was unity for the country,” Sotto said.
Fifteen minutes later after Sotto submitted his COC, fellow NPC member and also former Senator Teresa Tao “Tessie” Aquino-Oreta followed, accompanied by her sister Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara.
The 62-year-old former legislator said she hopes to win a seat in the Senate so she could continue her previous undertakings, particularly on matters regarding education.
While she expects to be criticized also for joining now the Team Unity, being a vocal critique of the present administration, Oreta said the people should think about moving forward and working together “for the betterment of this country.”
She downplayed as well would-be problems as regards the use of the “Aquino” family name with her nephew, Congressman Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who is also running for Senator under the UNO.
Under the election law, a lone “Aquino” vote would not go to either Oreta or her nephew.
Oreta said she would just educate the public about how to write down their names on the ballot boxes to make sure that no “Aquino” votes would go to waste.
“I could not underestimate the capabilities of Noynoy, his qualities… What is important is our desire and our passion to see that this country will move forward,” Oreta said.
More Senatorial candidates, particularly those from the administration and opposition tickets, are expected to rush to the Comelec office in Intramuros today (Monday), the last day of the filing of candidacies for the national position./DMS
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