Party told to stop linking Estrada to Chiz-heart issue

THE United Nationalist Coalition (UNA) on Sunday called on the Liberal Party (LP)-led coalition, Team PNoy, to stop using former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada in its campaign strategy to get media attention and to tell its members to just stick to legitimate issues.

Rep. Toby Tiangco of Navotas, UNA’s campaign manager, was referring to news reports insinuating that the former president is behind or exploiting the spat between Sen. Francis Escudero and the parents of his celebrity girlfriend Heart Evangelista.

The report was quoting a source who alleged that some key figures in the UNA could be using the issue as part of their efforts to bring down Escudero who consistently place second in recent opinion surveys.

The source disclosed that a close relative of Rey and Cecille Ongpauco has strong ties with personalities associated with the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), particularly the former president.

Tiangco, however, maintained that Estrada and other members of the UNA have nothing to do with the issue.

According to the lawmaker, UNA candidates do not want to waste their time talking about the cited issue because there are other more important issues that they would rather talk about.

“We don’t want to give attention to this baseless accusation, because we don’t want to be used by them to get media attention,” Tiangco said in an interview.

Meanwhile, UNA senatorial bet and son of the former president, Rep. Jose Victor Ejercito Estrada, insisted that his father is busy preparing for his own campaign in Manila which is scheduled to start on Saturday.

He also maintained that his father has nothing to do with Escudero anymore since the UNA already decided to drop him and two other senatorial candidates from the slate.

“It is not in my father’s character to seek revenge and he already proved it when he forgave all those people who connive to oust him as president,” Ejercito Estrada said.

The UNA senatorial candidate also said that Escudero should stop blaming the former president, who is also his godfather, for the problems he is facing now and just take advantage of the Lenten season to reflect on his life.

Candidates will be taking a five-day break from their campaign sorties and will resume campaigning on Mar 31, which is also the start of the campaign period for local candidates.

JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA