Joker, Angara: Team Unity getting more cohesive

BAGUIO CITY--Reelectionist Senators Edgardo Angara and Joker Arroyo on Sunday said the Team Unity is shaping up to be a cohesive team and running a well-planned campaign as the administration's ticket made its sortie here in time with the carnival atmosphere of the famous Panagbenga Flower Festival. On the other hand, the Genuine Opposition proclaimed its candidates Saturday night at the Plaza Miranda, although one of their adopted candidates, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, did not show up. In an interview, Angara said he sees no problem with the Team Unity campaign. "I don't think there is any problem and we are overwhelmed by the overwhelming support of local officials," he said. “So we are very happy that we have hitting big votes areas like Cebu which is 2. 2 million, Davao which is 1.3 million, Pampanga which is 1.2, and Pangasinan which is 1.3 million." Angara said administration candidates have been meeting the local officials in their sorties. “So we have nothing to complain about and it’s also a showcase of the evolving unity of the members of the ticket, because we come from different political persuasion, we come from different backgrounds but this is the beginning of bonding and I think this is bonding very well," he said. Fellow member of the Team Unity, Sen. Joker Arroyo, confirmed the observation of Angara. "The bonding of the Team Unity is getting stronger and stronger and the morale is getting higher and higher and we have never indulged in any mudslinging, and I think we would maintain that posture," he said. "As you can see here we are together and that i think what we have now, the morale being high, is because of the response of the people," Arroyo said. “I don’t know about the other side what it is, but as far as we are concerned we feel buoyed up by this." Arroyo said there is no friction at all among the Team Unity candidates even if they came from different backgrounds and groups. "Not one bit, no trouble, no one-upsmanship, nobody trying to steal the show from the others--all of us are working together. I didn't expect it myself." Commenting on the famous flower festival here, Angara said the practice should be emulated in other areas of the country. "This is a wonderful to us, to a million Filipinos who visit Baguio on the occasion of the flower festival," he said. “I hope that every region, ever major destination in the country would host a similar cultural, horticultural and historical event so that the young generation of Filipinos would learn to be in love with their country." Apart from Angara and Arroyo, other members of the Team Unity present in the Panagbenga festival were former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor, who rode in a horse; Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, Sen. Ralph Recto, former senator Tessie Aquino Oreta, Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Zambales Gov. Vic Magsaysay. Former senator Vicente Sotto III, actor Cesar Montano and Rep. Prospero Pichay were not seen in the meeting place for the Team Unity although there was a helicopter flying over the city with the latter's name on it, dropping confetti as the floats and bands snaked their way into the people-lined streets of the city.- GMANews.TV