Aquino sisters raise P106k for Noynoy campaign

Two of Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's sisters were able to raise P106,000 for his impending presidential campaign during their visit to Negros Occidental over the weekend, a Liberal Party stalwart said Monday. Former LP president Florencio "Butch" Abad said Pinky Aquino-Abellada and Ballsy Aquino-Cruz went to the province to meet urban poor families there but the families instead contributed money for Aquino's forthcoming campaign. "That was what former (Negros Occidental) Governor (Daniel) Bitay Lacson reported to me. That (P106,000) was from a group pf 400 volunteers gathered at the La Salle Bacolod," Abad said. He added the amount was different from the piso-piso campaign of the Negros Federation of Urban Poor Organizations. The two Aquino sisters are now in Bohol, Abad said during the LP event at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan where Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II announced his acceptance of Aquino's offer to be his running mate in the 2010 elections.

According to Abad, Aquino and Roxas would go to Mindanao - particularly to Davao del Norte, Davao City, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro, and Iligan City - to talk with the people there on September 25 to 27. Roxas was being groomed to be the LP's standard bearer until clamor for Aquino to run for the highest elected post emerged following the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino, last August 1 after more than a year of battling colon cancer. Aquino announced his presidential plans on September 9, more than a week after Roxas gave way to his party-mate following a spiritual retreat and consultation with the some groups. - GMANews.TV