Fresh from the Holy Week break, senatorial candidate Kiko Pangilinan on Monday, April 21, barnstormed Olongapo City and Bataan province, where he lamented the political noise in the country and urged Filipinos to be more discerning in choosing candidates to vote for.
Senatorial candidate Kiko Pangilinan poses for a photo with a market vendor at the Olongapo Public Market during the campaign trail on Monday, April 21, 2025. (Team Kiko Pangilinan)
In several phone-patch radio interviews in Olongapo City, he said that he will focus on his advocacy of food security and lower prices of food in the last three weeks of the campaign, and expressed his readiness to reach out to all Filipinos regardless of their political leanings.
“Madami nang hidwaan. Tutok lang tayo sa mensahe natin (There is a lot of division. We will focus on our message). Let them do their worst. Gawin nila ang pinakamasama nila. Gagawin natin ang pinakamabuti natin dahil ang taong bayan pagod na sa gulo, pagod na sa paninira, pagod na dito sa mga bangayan (Let them do their worst. We will do our best because the people are tired of the mess, tired of the smear campaign, tired of the fighting),” he stressed.
He urged other candidates instead to focus on solving the country’s problems rather than adding to the constant political bickering that has defined the country’s political scene in recent months.
“Harapin natin ‘yung problema ng bayan. Magkaroon tayo ng pagkakaisa dahil walang kulay ang gutom. Lahat tayo apektado ng mataas na presyo ng bilihin. Sana ‘yun na lang ang paigtingin (Let us face the country’s problem. Let us unite because hunger has no color. We are all affected by the high prices of goods. I hope we can just focus on that),” he added.
Pangilinan also appealed to Filipinos to vote only for candidates who have a track record of being “true and honest.”
“Magkaisa na tayo. Sama-sama nating patunayan na ang prinsipyo, paninindigan, ‘yung pagiging tapat at totoo, kaya ‘yan talunin itong pera. Kaya yan ipanalo laban sa pera at katiwalian at kawalan ng prinsipyo (Let us united. Together, let us prove that principles, convictions, being true and honest, those can defeat money. It can win against money and corruption and lack of principles),” the former senator added.
“20 days to go. Ngayon ang panahon ng pagbubusisi at pagpili ng palagay natin karapat-dapat pagkatiwalaan. Wag po natin piliin ‘yung nakakadagdag sa gulo, 'yung may isyu ng katiwalian, 'yung mga walang gagawin doon kundi butasin lang ang silya sa Senado dahil sila ay sikat o dahil sila ay kilala (This is the time to discern and choose who we can trust. Let us not choose those who add to the problem, those with issues of corruption, those who will do nothing but just sit on their chairs in the Senate because they are popular),” Pangilinan urged.
As the country’s former food security czar, he has been running under the platform of food security and has been its advocate for 15 years.
During his term, he brought down rice inflation to 0.8 percent and overall inflation to 1.5 percent, the lowest in 20 years.
The former senator said he can do it again, and is ready to work across the political aisle to fulfill his campaign promise of lowering the prices of food and other goods.
Pangilinan’s campaign brought him to Olongapo City and Bataan province on Monday, April 21. In Olongapo, he attended the flag-raising ceremony at Olongapo City Hall and went around the Olongapo Public Market.
Later in the day, he is also scheduled to campaign in Tarlac province.