Villanueva remains loyal to Roxas-Robredo despite rival tandem’s endorsement

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 18 (PNA) -– Liberal Party senatorial bet Joel Villanueva will remain loyal to presidential candidate Mar Roxas despite his inclusion in the senatorial line up of Santiago-Marcos tandem.

Villanueva was overwhelmed with the recent announcement of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos that he is included in their slate, but he will never attend any sortie of the tandem.

During his visit to this city on Wednesday, Villanueva hinted that his inclusion in the list of Santiago-Marcos senatorial bets could be his performance when he was still a member of Committee on Appointments of the House of Representatives, in which Santiago was also a member.

“Maybe they also see my passion to create jobs when I was still the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general,” Villanueva added.

The new development is advantageous to his candidacy, but Villanueva assured that will remain loyal to the Daang Matuwid coalition of Roxas and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo.

Santiago and Marcos announced their 10 senatorial bets on February 14 during the Youth for Miriam in Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Other senatorial bets from the Liberal Party endorsed by the tandem were Sen. Ralph Recto, former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla.

Villanueva hopes that the endorsement from other political parties would result to political maturity, focusing more on platform and track records of candidates.

Villanueva believed that through technology, voters will be wiser as they will be more capable of scrutinizing candidates through the web.

If elected as senator, Villanueva’s priority bills include the institutionalization of the program that he implemented during his term as TESDA chief that would help provide skills to Filipino and generate more jobs. (PNA)

FFC/SQM/RTA/EGR