Quezon Province has always been a very special place and occupies a great deal of space in the heart of Superstar Nora Aunor.
Even if she’s not from the region, Nora has a penchant for Quezonians especially when many of her avid Noranians are from the province like Anna Marie Abu, an executive at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) who has been a follower of the actress since she was young.
“Lagi ko kasing nakikita ang nanay ko no’n, talagang ipinaglalaban niya si Nora Aunor. Number one fan siya ni Ate—a term of endearment and respect for an older woman by blood or by affinity—Guy kaya mula noon, Noranian na rin ako (I always saw my mom before in the seventies and eighties, she was ready to fight for Nora Aunor. She’s a number one fan so eventually I became a Noranian as well),” recalled Anna Marie, a native of Lopez.
This writer vividly remembers his high school days at the Lopez Provincial High School in the late sixties and in 1971 when he organized a fan club called VENT, an acronym which stood for (V)ilma Santos, (E)dgar Mortiz, (N)ora Aunor and (T)irso Cruz III. The objective of the group was to unite all fans of Vilma, Edgar, Nora and Tirso.
When he became an entertainment writer, he revealed to Nora the history of VENT and the actress was flattered.
It was one way of making Aunor feel her presence in the history of Lopez and Quezon Province.
That’s why when she declared her intention to run for Congress via the party-list NORAA (National Organization for Responsive Advocacies for the Arts), one of the places Anna Marie thought was to campaign for La Aunor in Lopez. According to the NORAA camp, Quezon will be one of the bailiwicks of the org with Nora as a nominee.
As a party-list candidate and nominee, Guy doesn’t have to fully cover the entire Philippines during the campaign period so long as the party-list is promoted. Voters vote for the name of the party-list and not the candidates. At least 2% of the national vote, a nominee is given one seat.
La Aunor filed the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for her party-list with the Comelec last Friday.
Nora in a press statement identified herself as Nora Cabaltera Villamayor, popularly known as Nora Aunor in Philippine Showbiz. She intended to run as a representative of the new party-list NORAA.
Aunor has four-pronged cornerstones of her government platform, namely, the advancement of the arts and its artists, promotion of the Filipino youth and education, welfare of the elderlies and well-being of OFWs.
“Sa mahigit limampung taon ko po sa entertainment industry ay marami pong umuudyok sa akin na pasukin po ang public service. Ito na po siguro ang tamang pagkakataon para po pagbigyan ang mga taong nagsusulong at naniniwala (In my more than fifty years in the industry there are a lot of people who have been egging me to run for public service. I think this is the time to heed those who are supporting and believing in me),” announced the actress.