The house-to-house campaign team of Vice President Leni Robrebo and Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan has a new member: Jodi Sta. Maria.
Sta. Maria, an actress who trended on social media for her iconic line, “Papunta pa lang tayo sa exciting part!”, is now an active campaigner for the Leni-Kiko tandem just like the other “kakampinks”.
She also joined the campaign efforts for human rights lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, who is running for senator under the Robredo-Pangilinan ticket.
Sta. Maria, star of the hit drama “The Broken Marriage Vow”, went around Barangay Tumana in Marikina City with other campaign volunteers on Tuesday, May 3.
“This is what I stand for and many have known me to be, you know, just quiet about certain things and I believe this is not the time to be quiet about what you stand for,” she said.
“That’s also the reason why I went out there to show people kung sino iyong mga tao na sa puso ko ang magbibigay sa atin ng pag-asa. Kumbaga (who are the people in my heart and will give us hope. It means), there's hope in pink,” she added.
The actress is the former daughter-in-law of Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, one of Robredo’s rivals in the presidential race.
Sta. Maria emphasized that she’s not doing the campaign for herself but for every Filipino and for the country.
READ: Actress Jodi Sta. Maria reveals support for Diokno, says she’s one of his ‘Chel-dren’
“Kung ito ang magiging (If this will be my) contribution ko, then I'm very much willing na suungin iyong init, iyong pagod, etong mga bagay na ginawa, para sa Pilipinas (brave the heat, exhaustion, these things we’ve done, for the Philippines),” she said.
She believes her core values strongly resonate with the three candidates.
“Ako kasi naniniwala ako na (Me, I believe that) you are who you vote for and sila iyong mga tao na nagre-resonate doon sa mga (they are the people who resonate the) core values na naka-importante sa akin bilang tao (that are very important to me as a person),” the actress said.
“Importante sa akin ang pagiging matapat, importante sa akin ang pagiging hardworking, importante sa akin ang transparency and accountability and sa kanila ko nakikita iyong mga katangian na pinapahalagahan ko sa aking buhay. Kaya sila dapat (Being honest is important to me, being hardworking is important to me, transparency and accountability are important to me and I see in them the traits that I value in my life. That’s why they must be the one),” she added.
Sharing her campaign experience, Sta. Maria had nothing to say but good words for the warm welcome from Brgy. Tumana residents.
“I would say na hindi naman sila naging mga suplado or hindi kami napansin pero (that they were not snubs or they ignored us but) they're very open, they're very open to listen to what we have to say,” she said.