Ex-Bangsamoro commission member first LP bet to file COC

Samira Ali Gutoc-Tomawis – women’s rights advocate and former member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) – is the first member of the opposition Liberal Party (LP) to file her candidacy for senator in the 2019 elections.

Presenting documents signed by Vice President Leni Robredo and LP President Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Gutoc said she will fight for the welfare of minority groups in the Senate.

“I am part of the opposition, bravely part of the opposition at the time for the opposition to move forward,” she told reporters shortly after filing her certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections in Intramuros, Manila.

Samira Ali Gutoc-Tomawis presents to the media her certificate of candidacy and a document signed by Vice President Leni Robredo and Liberal Party President Francis Pangilinan related to her bid under the senatorial slate of the opposition. INQUIRER.net/Cathrine Gonzales

Gutoc said she will also champion the welfare of disaster and calamity victims as she almost lost her mother in the Marawi City siege in May 2017.

Gutoc believed she could garner at least 14 million votes in the midterm elections next year if all sectors she advocates, including women and those from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, will vote for her.

To recall, Gutoc quit her post as member of the BTC after President Rodrigo Duterte cracked a rape joke in 2017. Duterte said he will take responsibility if soldiers who fight terrorists will rape women in Gutoc’s hometown, Marawi City.

READ: Bangsamoro commission member quits over Duterte rape joke, Marawi assault

She added Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao also impelled her to quit her BTC post.  /kga