LP hopes to sweep polls with veterans, newbies in ticket
MANILA — The ruling Liberal Party expressed hope yesterday that its senatorial lineup will dominate the 2016 elections.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, LP's campaign manager, described their senatorial candidates as "dynamic Filipinos" who "we know will not fail us."
"It is our hope that they sweep the Senate elections in 2016," said Belmonte, who is also the vice president of the LP.
The LP is fielding former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II as its presidential candidate and Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo as his running mate.
The party's senatorial slate is a mix of Senate and House veterans, election neophytes, sectoral representatives, Cabinet secretaries and appointees of President Benigno Aquino III.
"With Mar and Leni, we are ready. We are willing and able to have a good fight in the 2016 elections," said Senate President Franklin Drilon, one of the LP senatorial candidates.
Besides Drilon, incumbent Senators Teofisto Guingona and Ralph Recto and former Sens. Francis Pangilinan and Ping Lacson were among the veterans included in the LP lineup.
The Cabinet executives and presidential appointees in the LP slate were outgoing Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, resigned Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel Villanueva, PhilHealth Director Risa Hontiveros as its senatorial bets and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority general manager Mark Lapid.
Unlike Hontiveros, the four other government executives are all neophytes in the senatorial race. —