Press Release
November 18, 2009

It's Villar-Legarda tandem for 2010

MANDALUYONG CITY--The tandem of Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Sen. Manny Villar and Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) vice-presidential hopeful Sen. Loren Legarda has been officially sealed, following their long-awaited announcement at the historic Laurel House in Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City.

On his vice-presidential pick, Villar said, "Our team-up is founded on and solidified by our common advocacies such as poverty alleviation, climate change mitigation and environment rehabilitation, and protection of our migrant workers which we have been passionately pursuing."

"It is Sen. Loren Legarda who best complements and represents my ideals and visions for the country and our people who long to get up from the twin scourge of poverty and calamities," Villar said.

Villar, whose edge among presidential aspirants is his managerial skills developed from hard work and perseverance amid poverty, is a known advocate of overseas Filipino workers' (OFWs) rights. He has repatriated and assisted 754 distressed OFWs, mostly from the Middle East, since last year. Villar started his OFW advocacy 30 years ago, while still in the private sector.

At the same time, the NP president continues to focus on combating climate change, initiating tree-planting projects, river clean-up drives, and other environmental endeavors. He has planted over one million trees.

Likewise, Legarda is a known environmentalist who was recently appointed by the United Nations as champion of disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region. She is also the founder of the Luntiang Pilipinas Foundation which advocates environmental awareness. Through the years, the foundation has supervised the construction of forest parks and the planting of two million trees nationwide.

Legarda is acknowledged to be the only woman in history who has placed number one in two senatorial elections, in 1998 and again in 2007. She is also the first woman who became majority floor leader of the Philippine Senate.

The lady senator believes that among all the candidates eyeing the presidency, Villar is the only one who possesses the leadership and management skills necessary in mitigating poverty and addressing the needs of the Filipino people.

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