Sultan Kudarat gives Team Aquino-Roxas a rockstar welcome

Leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno "Noynoy" S. Aquino III and running mate Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II visited yesterday, February 17, the town of Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, to commune with students and representatives of various sectors.

A 6,000-strong crowd of student supporters greeted the Liberal Party tandem at the Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State University, which was then experiencing a 30-minute power outage.

Despite the blackout, spirits remained high. The students joined the tandem in singing "Bayan Ko," and even performed a traditional dance for them.

Aquino spoke to students about issues affecting Mindanao, and offered solutions to problems such as the two-year ban in tuna fishing and the effect of El Nino on the environment and the livelihood of the people.

Meanwhile local officials from 11 municipalities and a crowd of around 2,500 people received the tandem at the Isulan Municipal Gym for a multi-sectoral dialogue.

Aquino emphasized the importance of a clean and trustworthy government, pointing out that funds to build schools and subsidize the education of poor but deserving students have been lost to corruption.

"Government's job is to take care of you and to provide opportunities so you can improve your lives," Aquino said.

Aquino and Roxas currently lead all national presidential and vice-presidential surveys, respectively.