Presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe and her running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, on Thursday announced their 12 offficial senatorial candidates under the “Partido Galing at Puso” lineup at Club Filipino in San Juan City.
Two of the GP bets were plucked from the Liberal Party, Senator Ralph Recto and Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo.
Except for Recto who was represented by his son Ryan Christian, the 11 other candidates appeared at the formal declaration of their senatorial bid under the Poe- Escudero tandem.
The senatorial bets under GP are reelectionist Vicente Sotto III, Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo LP, lawyer Lorna Kapunan, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian, former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, actor Edu Manzano, ACT Partylist Rep. Samuel Pagdilao, former Senator Richard Gordon (also Red Cross chairman), Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno and OFW advocate Susan Ople.
Romulo opted to run under GP. The other exclusive senatoriables of the partnership of Poe and Escudero are Gatchalian, Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC); Kapunan, Aksyon Demokratiko; Pagdilao and Manzano, both independent candidates.
The shared candidates are Sotto, NPC ; Gordon and Zubiri, both United Nationalist Alliance led by another presidential contender Jejomar Binay; Moreno, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and Ople, Nacionalista Party.
After the GP senatorial bets briefly talked on their platform, Poe explained why they were chosen and invited to their tandem. Poe and Escudero filed their candidacy as independent candidates for the coming May 2016 elections.
In making a decision about their choices, Poe revealed she was guided by the belief that excellence and intelligence would not suffice to serve the government. She noted that it is important that a candidate should have the heart and concern especially for the poor and needy.
GP campaign manager Cebu Rep. Ace Durano noted that in choosing their candidates, “we should go beyond the surface and look at the heart of the person.”
He related that during the times he spent with Poe, she found out that she is a mother and a wife. “It was clear to me that Senator Grace Poe has the heart of a mother, the heart of a wife and the heart that is truly concerned with the welfare of others
He said Escudero, a former colleague in the House of Representatives, had overtaken all of them, but he has remained the same kind-hearted person.