Loren urges LP bets to stop 'dirty, demeaning' campaign

Nacionalista Party vice presidential bet Senator Loren Legarda on Wednesday urged Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III and his running mate, Senator Manuel Roxas II to condemn and order the stop of the “dirty and demeaning campaign" coming from their party. In a press statement, Legarda said she and her sons have been deeply troubled by the “flood of lies and slander… churned by the dirty tricks and wrecking crews of the Liberal Party" directed against her and NP standard bearer Senator Manuel Villar Jr. The senator has two sons, Lorenzo and Leandro, with ex- husband former Batangas Gov. Jose Antonio Leviste. She said she and her family have remained silent about the matter “because when I decided to run for office, I — together with my standard bearer and members of our alliance — have vowed to run a positive campaign, focusing on a program of action and solutions to problems that beset our nation." Villar was accused of being the secret candidate of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, overspending on his campaign, using the death of his brother and making up his rags to riches story to advance his candidacy, among others. The most recent accusation was that he allegedly plagiarized the campaign advertisement of an Argentinian politician. “By condoning this [dirty campaigns], the character of their [Aquino and Roxas] leadership is in question. If they don’t stop this smear campaign now and apologize to the Filipino people, what would stop them from employing the same strategy of lying and slander for the rest of their public lives?" Legarda asked. She said the barrage of propaganda of the lowest kind is appalling as it smacks of aristocratic elitism, or in Filipino, “ugaling mata pobre." “The candidacies of persons like me or Sen. Villar, who don’t belong to traditional wealthy and oligarchic families, are automatically suspected of being motivated by opportunism and material gain-seeking. Dahil ba sila’y anak sa angkan ng mayayaman, ang tingin nila sa iba ay umaasenso lang dahil sa pangungurakot?," Legarda lamented. She also criticized an LP statement which indicated that the election is a battle between good and evil is patent dishonesty and a disservice to the ideals of good governance. “I believe that good, honest people don’t need to create demons for their virtues to shine through," she said, referring to the same statement which she said “demonized [the party’s] adversaries." The senator said the slander, fabrication and lies “miseducate" the electorate and degrades and corrupts the election culture. “Lies and slander meant to destroy the personal character and integrity of other candidates harm the development of an intelligent and discriminating electorate, to say the least. Huwag n’yo naman lasunin ang isipan ng mga tao (Don’t poison the minds of the people)," Legarda said. She said that to nurture and raise the quality of our democracy, the country needs an electorate that is well informed of important issues and will thus vote on the basis of good understanding of alternative platforms and solutions offered by candidates. The LP had earlier denied being the source of anti-Villar emails and the one that released the death certificate of Villar's brother, Danny, who died of leukemia in 1964 and transfer certificate of title of their house in San Rafael Village, Balut, Navotas. [See: LP denies being source of anti-Villar emails. - GMANews.TV