Aquino, Roxas get pop star welcome in Negros

BACOLOD CITY - Senators Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, who have announced their candidacies for president and vice president under the Liberal Party in next year’s elections, got a pop star welcome from a sea of yellow crowds in three cities in Negros Occidental on Thursday.

People shouting "Noy-Mar Na!" surged forward to touch the two, get their autographs and have their pictures taken as the duo went on stage in Talisay, Bacolod and Bago cities.

Aquino said the crowds were overflowing because people want to see change in government.

"If we continue with this momentum, we will make change a reality," Aquino said.

Butch Abad, campaign manager of the two, said it was not very hard to campaign for Aquino and Roxas because of the spontaneous outpouring of support from the people.

"This is a normal reception for them everywhere they go because they have made it very clear that this is a people's campaign," Abad said.

He said the response of the crowds in places in Mindanao and the Visayas that Aquino and Roxas have visited showed that there was a national clamor for the two to run as a tandem.

Aquino and Roxas started their day on Thursday with a courtesy call on Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco at the Provincial capitol where they were warmly received by government employees.

At the Talisay City covered court, former Negros Occidental Gov. Daniel Lacson Jr. introduced Aquino and Roxas to a crowd waving yellow flaglets and placards expressing their love for the two. Also on the stage with them was Talisay Mayor Eric Saratan.

Roxas and Aquino also met with a crowd of 4,000 at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City, the hometown of Roxas' mother, Judy Araneta Roxas.

They then paid a courtesy call on Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra and met with volunteers at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.

From Negros Occidental, the two senators were to proceed to Iloilo, Capiz and Aklan, Aquino said.

In all his stops, Aquino thanked the people for their prayers for his mother as she battled cancer and for his family after she died.

He also expressed appreciation for the welcome he and Roxas have been getting from the crowds wherever they went.

Both Aquino and Roxas promised the crowds a government free of corruption and committed to serving the people's interest in their speeches in Negros.

"I do not believe in the politics of expediency nor transactional politics. I will stand for what is right," Aquino said.

Meanwhile, Aquino said in an interview that he has not had a chance to talk with his uncle, tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco.

"But at the end of the day, I think we have to talk to each other," he said.

Asked if he would ask for his uncle's support, Aquino said, "He's my uncle. I would not presume to tell an elder what to do."

He also disclosed that he and former President Joseph Estrada had a meeting of minds during their first meeting in which they agreed to issue a joint statement that would call for clean and honest elections and oppose a no-election scenario. Aquino said he and Estrada hoped that the other presidential aspirants would join their call.

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