THE senatorial candidates of the administration’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas see nothing wrong with striking an alliance with President Marcos Jr. even if they are also former allies of his now political nemesis, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he sees nothing wrong with running under the administration slate after being allied with the previous president whose daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, has severed ties with Marcos Jr. and is now facing an impeachment case in the Senate.
Sotto said he has been friends with the elder Duterte and Marcos Jr., who used to be his colleague in the Senate for six years.
“Those are two issues, kasi may kaibigan ka dati, kaibigan mo naman e kaya lang ikaw ay kinukuha para makatulong sa bansa di naman para sa kung sinong pulitiko (because you have an old friend, he’s your friend but you are being asked to help the country and not for any politician). I don’t see anything wrong,” he told reporters last Tuesday in Pasay City where the Alyansa slate held a campaign rally with the President.
Marcos, in campaigning for Alyansa’s victory, has been saying that voting for his senatorial slate is a vote against the wrong policies of his predecessor.
The Chief Executive has been taking potshots at Duterte allies who are running in the senatorial race, saying none of the administration’s senatorial candidates have been involved in Oplan: Tokhang or the “bloody” drug war, in alleged pocketing of public funds during the pandemic, in allowing the country to become a foreign gambling site or in applauding China’s harassments and attempts to take over parts of the Philippines to turn it into their province.
In the Pasay City rally, the President poked fun at Duterte when he paused and looked at the Alyansa candidates, saying he was just checking if everyone was safe from a grenade explosion.
The President was obviously referring to the elder Duterte who, last week, suggested killing 15 senators to make way for his senatorial slate, a remark which prompted Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to file complaints for inciting sedition and unlawful utterances against Duterte before the Department of Justice.
Another Alyansa bet, reelectionist Sen. Francis Tolentino, also found it acceptable to be allied with both the former president and the sitting president, saying there has to be a “demarcation line” between the Duterte and the Marcos Jr. administrations.
He echoed the President’s stand against some of the policies of the previous administration such as the issues on China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), which Alyansa bets support.
Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar, also a member of the Alyansa slate, said: “My campaign is focused on just expressing my message to the people I don’t like to add politics to it.
Villar’s mother, Sen. Cynthia Villar and her elder brother Sen. Mark Villar are known allies of the former president.
Former Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who is also a returning lawmaker under the Alyansa slate, said he sees nothing wrong with supporting both the previous and the current administrations since all presidents constantly draw criticisms.
“Kung sino ihalal maraming nagki criticize. Pagkatapos ng termino iba na naman ang i-criticize so walang hangganan kaya ganito ang sitwasyon natin. What if after eleksyon magkaisa tayo? (Whoever is elected gets criticized. After the term, a new one gets the flak so there’s no end, that’s why our situation is like this. What if we try to unite?),” he said.
Alyansa candidates said the President’s backing is a decisive factor in the coalition’s push to dominate the vote-rich Metro Manila which has 7.32 million registered voters.
The President has been a constant presence at all four of Alyansa’s rallies in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte; Iloilo City; Carmen, Davao del Norte; and Pasay City spanning Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and the National Capital Region.
The other members of the Alyansa ticket are former Interior Secretary and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos; Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay; reelectionist Sen. Bong Revilla, Lito Lapid, Imee Marcos and Francis Tolentino; former Sen. Panfilo Lacson; former Social Welfare Secretary and now Rep. Erwin Tulfo (PL, ACT-CIS).
‘BUDOTS’
At the Pasay rally, Revilla, an actor, refuted criticisms that his dancing to the popular Filipino musical genre “budots” is the only reason why he was elected to the Senate.
“Baka ma-bash na naman ako niyan (I may get bashed again),” Revilla told the campaign rally at the Cuneta Astrodome after he stopped dancing to budots, an electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in Davao City, the bailiwick of the elder Duterte, who, himself, had danced to the music when he was still mayor.
Revilla was able to return to the Senate in 2019 after he was acquitted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan after he was implicated in the pork barrel scam architected by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
Revilla laughed off the claims of his critics on social media who said that he would not do anything but dance budots in the Senate, saying he filed 2,000 bills of which 343 became laws, including the “Pagtuturo Act” which raised teachers’ allowances from P5,000 to P10,000.
For students, he said he was also the proponent of the “Anti No Permit, No Exam Policy” which allowed students who have yet to fully settle their tuitions to take examinations.
Revilla also mentioned the Expanded Centenarian Law, which he said he and Sen. Imee Marcos “fought for” to give seniors aged 80, 85, 90, and 95 a P10,000 aid beginning this year.
Rep. Villar said he brings a “millennial” perspective to the Senate, vowing to continue her advocacy in helping many Filipinos “to be self-sufficient by teaching them to become entrepreneurs.”
“Alam niyo po bilang millennial leader, more than 15 years po ako nagtrabaho sa pribadong sektor, sa housing, sa retail. Nakita ko po kung ano yung mgapangangailangan ng ating maliliit na negosyo. Maliliit nanegosyo na nagbibigay ng maraming tarabaho sa ating mga kababayan (You know, being a millennial leader, more than 15 years ago, I worked in the private sector, in housing and retail. I saw the needs of small businesses. Small businesses that give jobs to our people),” she told reporters.
She also cited her experience as a two time congresswoman, saying she knows which programs work and which ones need improvement to directly address the needs of the people.
Just recently, Villar launched the “Negosenso” Project, which kicked off on her 40th birthday last month, providing livelihood assistance to vendors, sari-sari store owners and pedicab drivers to boost their capital and improve their small businesses.
As an entrepreneur, Villar also spearheaded the “Market Liberty” project which allowed young and creative entrepreneurs to showcase their products in Vista Malls nationwide.
