Marcos bares Alyansa 2025 senatorial slate

MANILA, Philippines — Familiar names, including two former rivals of President Marcos during the 2022 race, as well as veteran lawmakers and entertainment personalities, make up the senatorial slate of administration coalition Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas for next year’s midterm elections.

Marcos yesterday unveiled the coalition’s ticket for the Senate composed of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay, Sen. Pia Cayetano, former senator Panfilo Lacson, Sen. Lito Lapid, Sen. Imee Marcos, former senator Manny Pacquiao, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., former Senate president Vicente Sotto, Sen. Francis Tolentino, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar.

Abalos, Tolentino and Pacquiao are from Marcos’ political party Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, while Revilla and Tulfo are from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats led by the President’s cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Four of the candidates – Sotto, Binay, Lacson and Lapid – belong to the Nationalist
 People’s Coalition while three are from the Nacionalista Party, namely Villar, Cayetano and Imee.

In August, The STAR reported that the 12 candidates constituted the senatorial line-up of the administration alliance, but some members of the coalition claimed later on that the slate was not yet final.

Lacson and Pacquiao ran for president during the 2022 elections, which saw Marcos winning by landslide.

Cayetano, Lapid, Marcos, Revilla and Tolentino are incumbent senators while Pacquiao, Sotto and Lacson were former members of the chamber. Abalos, Binay, Cayetano, Imee, Pacquiao, Tulfo and Villar are either incumbent or former members of the House of Representatives.

Binay is incumbent Makati City mayor, while five in the administration slate had served as local executives – Marcos as governor of Ilocos Norte; Lapid as Pampanga governor; Revilla, as governor of Cavite; Tolentino, as mayor of Tagaytay City and Sotto, vice mayor of Quezon City.

Abalos, Tulfo, Lacson and Tolentino had also served as Cabinet members while Lapid and Revilla were entertainment personalities known for their action flicks.

Villar’s inclusion in the slate, meanwhile, marks another chapter in her family’s deep-rooted political presence, particularly in Las Piñas, where the Villar family has held sway for decades.

If successful, Camille Villar will be the fourth member of her family to secure a position in the Senate. Her brother, Mark Villar, and her mother, Cynthia, are incumbent senators, making her candidacy part of a broader trend of political families occupying multiple seats in the Senate. Her father, Manuel Villar had served as Senate president.

Speaking during a convention of  Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas yesterday in Pasay City, Marcos said the administration’s senatorial candidates are known for their public service record, diligence and leadership.

“Because of their quality and experience, I am highly confident that they will be our allies in pushing for the continuous development of our country,” the President said in Filipino.

The National Unity Party is also a member of the administration alliance but has no candidate for senator.

Imee no show

Of the 12 senatorial candidates, only Imee, the President’s elder sister, was absent during the convention, which was held five days before the start of the filing of certificates of candidacy. Imee is a known ally and friend of Vice President Sara Duterte, who resigned as education secretary and vice chair of the government’s anti-insurgency task force last June.

“My countrymen, we also have Sen. Imee Marcos who went ahead of other senators and is busy campaigning that is why she was not able to make it today,” Marcos said in jest.

He said public service runs in his family’s blood, noting that his elder sister had worked as a House member, governor and senator.

“They said she (Imee) is frank. But she is frank in telling the truth and in siding with what is right,” he added.

Following Duterte’s resignation from the Cabinet, Imee assured the Vice President that her trust and confidence in their friendship and in her “kindness and integrity” remained the same.

“I am with you (Duterte) in every step of the way in this fight for the country,” the senator said.

Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign manager and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said Imee’s stance on Duterte would not pose problems in the coalition.

“We only discussed the qualification, whether we are united in our goal to raise the quality of life of Filipinos. That’s it. We can raise it by supporting the legislative (agenda) of our President. That was our only primary consideration,” Tiangco said in a chance interview.

Tiangco said a candidate’s support for Marcos’ legislative agenda is more important than his or her chances of winning.

“If (the candidate has a strong chance of winning) but has other views on the measures that the President supports, we cannot get them just for convenience. What is important is they believe in the Bagong Pilipinas platform,” he added.

Presidential Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez said Marcos is expected to join the coalition’s campaign sorties every Thursday. The alliance is planning to hold a kickoff rally somewhere in Metro Manila.

For the Makabayan bloc, the administration slate has nothing to offer as it is composed of recycled figures from past administrations and members of entrenched political dynasties.

“Many of these candidates have repeatedly failed to accomplish any meaningful action to address the most urgent concerns of Filipinos especially in the areas where the citizenry face the greatest challenges,” Makabayan co-chairperson Liza Maza said in a statement. Maza is running for senator.

She said the legislative records of President  Marcos’ senatorial candidates are underwhelming.

“The candidates’ track records leave much to be desired, lacking any bold or comprehensive strategies that would meaningfully respond to the urgent needs of Filipinos,” she said.

“By aligning with a presidency mired in issues of corruption, graft, and historical revisionism, the administration candidates have demonstrated their loyalties are not with the Filipino people,” she said.

No Sara Senate slate

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte has dispelled speculations that she would be forming a senatorial slate to rival that of President Marcos, saying she was preoccupied with defending the Office of the Vice President (OVP) at the moment.

But while focused on dealing with controversies involving her office, particularly questions about its spending, Duterte has not crossed out the possibility of involving herself in the campaign for the 2025 polls.

“For now, I don’t have a Senate slate or senators (for the 2025 elections), because as I said, I was focused on defending the OVP. I feel like it is my primary duty to defend the office. But the campaign’s still a long way from now. It’s still in February,” she told reporters.

Some quarters are still banking on the political capital of Duterte as vice president and founder of regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).

Earlier, she announced that her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte and her two brothers Sebastian and Paolo were eyeing Senate seats. The Duterte patriarch, however, denied this.

Asked what her father and brothers were up to, the Vice President said she heard from people close to them that “they are ready to run, but I’m not sure if they’re all running together.”

She said HNP has not discussed yet possible alliances with any groups or received requests for endorsement.

Meanwhile, Duterte clarified that Leni Robredo was not the only former vice presidents that she had planned to meet.

She said she was also eyeing meetings with former vice presidents Jejomar Binay and Noli de Castro. - Neil Jayson Servallos, Emmanuel Tupas, Christine Boton