LP an 'old Mercedez Benz' that needs Bam Aquino's 'youthful glow' in the 2013 polls - Recto

Tweet

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines - Saying that the Liberal Party  is like an "old Mercedez Benz"  that  needs "fresh detailing," Senator Ralph Recto on Monday threw his support behind the plan of the cousin of President Benigno Aquino III to run for the Senate in the 2013 polls.

Recto said that Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV "is the new face" that would give a "youthful glow" to the 66-year-old party founded  by the namesake and grandfather of Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas III, who is currently LP's president.

"He's a welcome development, not only for the administration party but for the Senate as well," Recto said in a statement.

Bam earlier confirmed that he had obtained the greenlight from President Aquino to run in next year's senatorial polls. However, the chief executive told his cousin that the LP would still have to decide on its final lineup for the 2013 elections.

Bam said that he had not yet decided on whether to join LP or run as an independent with support from a non-government organization.

Recto said that he would be willing to nominate Bam as among the official senatorial candidates of the LP.

"If the President is having second thoughts (nominating him) because he's a close relative, I'm willing to nominate him in the LP," Recto, LP's vice president for Internal Affairs, said.

"I look forward to campaigning with him and also hopeful that I would work with him eventually in the Senate," Recto added.

The 35-year-old Bam is the son of Paul Aquino, the youngest brother of President Aquino's father, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., who ran and won as senator when he was just 34 years old.

Bam graduated valedictorian and summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce in Management Engineering  degree at the Ateneo de Manila University.

He was appointed to the  National Youth Commission of the Philippines  as commissioner-at-large in 2001 and became its chairperson in February 2003.

In 2010, Bam was chosen as among Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurs of the Year and Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines. He is the president of MicroVentures Foundation and among the board of directors of the Hapinoy Store Program that aims to provide cheaper access to commodities through the establishment of community stores nationwide. - with Aliana Gimena, InterAksyon.com

Follow @interaksyon