Senator-elect Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero appealed to Filipinos Wednesday, May 18, to forget their political biases in the recent elections and start working with each other for the betterment of the country.

Escudero, who ran under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), was proclaimed as a senator of the Philippines after placing fifth in the recently concluded national polls. He garnered 20,271,458 votes.

“Isa ito sa mga naging pinakamainit na halalan kumpara sa mga nagdaang taon. Mainit dahil maraming mga magkapitbahay, magkatrabaho, magkamag anak na nagaway, nag-unfriend at nag-unfollow dahil lamang iba’t ibang kulay ang kanilang dinadala kaugnay sa halalang ito (This has been one of the most heated elections compared in the previous years. It’s heated because a lot of neighbors, workmates, and relatives had conflicts, or even unfriended and unfollowed each other just because of the different political colors that they carried in this elections),” Escudero said in his speech.

“Ang akin pong hiling, sana mula sa araw na ito, magsimula na ang paghilom (I pray that starting today, the healing will begin),” he added.

He said that Filipinos should instead proudly wear the colors of the Philippine flag – red, blue, white, and yellow – as a symbol of unity.

“Sana mga kulay na lamang na sumasagisag sa ating bandila ang dalhin anuman ang kulay na sinuot o dinala natin sa nagdaang eleksyon dahil sa dulo, pagbali-baliktarin man, pare-pareho pa rin tayong Pilipino at pare-pareho tayong nakasakay sa nagiisang bangka na ang pangalan o ang tawag ay Pilipinas (I pray that we carry only the colors of our flag, whatever color we wore in the past elections, because in the end, whatever happens, we are all Filipinos onboard one boat that we call Philippines),” Escudero said.

The outgoing governor of Sorsogon province was joined by his wife, celebrity and fashion icon Heart Evangelista, during the event.