Some candidates of Team Unity were in Negros Occidental yesterday to campaign but there were no big crowds and movie stars in tow.

That is because the team has a new campaign strategy.

Team Unity senatorial candidates have broken up into three teams and shifted their campaign strategy away from big rallies to "town hall" meetings with key leaders of the communities they visit, Senator Edgardo Angara, who was assigned to Pontevedra and Hinigaran towns in this province said yesterday. Angara said that in their town hall type meetings, a senatorial candidate meets with about 200 key leaders of a community to explain their party's platform and answer issues.

This way we can be more issues-oriented, unlike in big rallies where speeches end up to be superficial, he said.

In town hall meetings we can explain issues and listen to concerns of the people, he said. "In big rallies crowds who attend are usually already one's supporters brought in by local political allies so it is like preaching to the choir." Angara said.

With Angara in Negros Occidental yesterday was Vicente Magsaysay.

The two will be joined by Mike Defensor when they hold more town hall meetings in northern Negros Occidental today before moving on to Negros Oriental on Saturday.

Chavit Singson was supposed to be with the group of Angara but did not arrive yesterday as he reportedly was going to Northern Mindanao.

Assigned to Northern Mindanao this week is Tessie Aquino Oreta, Ralph Recto, Joker Arroyo and Tito Sotto, and to southern Tagalog are Cesar Montano, Miguel Zubiri, Jamalul Kiram and Prospero Pichay, Angara said.

At the end of the week Angara said all 12 senatorial candidates of the team will meet to report on their town hall meeting experiences and to see if there new strategy is effective.

Meanwhile, Angara yesterday denied accusations by the opposition against him, Vicente Sotto and Tessie Aquino-Oreta of being "balimbing (turncoats) for joining the administration's senatorial slate.

"It is not us who abandoned the opposition, it is they who did not want us," Angara said.

That is why we in the LDP Party unanimously voted to join the administration team.

Angara also denied the allegation that he mismanaged funds of the opposition during the presidential bid Fernando Poe, and that he had an affair with former senator Loren Legarda.

Angara said he did not regret his party's joining the administration ticket that has a program of government, unlike the opposition that has absolutely nothing but a dirty tricks department.

Half of the opposition senatorial candidates are responsible for former president Joseph Estrada's impeachment, and one of their bets is responsible for the loss of Poe's presidential bid by taking almost P3 million votes from him, Angara said.

So to call themselves Genuine Opposition is farcical and fraudulent, he said.

Meanwhile, Angara said he is willing to debate anyone of the opposition bets but not anywhere.

"I think they are just trying to score cheap political points by saying they want the debate to be in Plaza Miranda," Angara said.*CPG

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