Civil society group backs 3 anti-Duterte Senate bets

TAKING A STAND Tindig Pilipinas leaders endorse three senatorial candidates—(behind the flag, from left) Free Legal Assistance Group chair Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, Bangsamoro Basic Law proponent Samira Gutoc-Tomawis and Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano—at a gathering in Cubao, Quezon City, on Friday. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

They vowed to address the worst controversies under the Duterte administration, and could well represent the country’s three main islands based on their respective hometowns.

“They will fight for all of us. They will be our fighters against poverty, for social inclusion and for the nation’s sovereignty,”  Tindig Pilipinas, a coalition of civil society organizations, said in a statement.

At a press conference in Cubao, Quezon City, on Friday, the group endorsed for the 2019 senatorial race Free Legal Assistance Group chair Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, Bangsamoro Basic Law proponent Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, and Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano.

Diokno, a native of Batangas province, spoke about the President’s bloody antidrug campaign and said that he “cannot be quiet and sit tightly by while this government continues to kill thousands of people in what they mistakenly call a war on drugs … [this is actually] a war on our legal system, on the society we know, on our democracy.”

Former Marine and Negros-born Alejano took the Duterte administration to task for taking what he considered to be a defeatist stance on the country’s West Philippine Sea dispute with China.

“It is so difficult to accept that our government has just seemingly let pass the intrusion and grabbing of our territory, and the abuse of our citizens. The West Philippine Sea is ours. We should get it back,” Alejano said.

“For me, this is cowardice. This is a betrayal of our nation,” he added.

Alejano also hit the government for its “Build, Build, Build” campaign that, he said, will bury the country in foreign debt and result in the influx of Chinese workers in the country who could “rob [our people] of livelihood.”

Marawi civic leader Tomawis said she would bring “the voice of evacuees and of women” in the Senate. “Never, in 25 years, has there been a Muslim woman’s voice in the Senate … I can be the first,” she said.

The candidate said the bombing of Marawi was “not the fault of the population [but of] policy and decision making.”

She added: “Terrorism does not die with more bombs. Terrorism needs to be rehabilitated through humane programs. Transitional justice, not force.”

Hilbay entering race

Also on Friday, supporters of Florin Hilbay described the former Solicitor General as the “second coming” of the late Sen. Raul Roco, who has often been considered “the best President we never had.” Roco died of prostate cancer in 2005.

“It’s simple: We should fight for what is right,” Hilbay said on his Twitter account when he officially announced his senatorial bid.

Hilbay, who headed the Philippine legal team that snared a major victory in the international arbitral court when it recognized the country’s sovereign rights in the disputed West Philippine Sea, will run under Aksyon Demokratiko, the political party that Roco founded for his 1998 presidential bid.

Nancy files COC

Filing her certificate of candidacy (COC) on Friday, Sen. Nancy Binay, who is seeking a second term, denied that her family was running a political dynasty since “we still do not have a clear definition [of] political dynasty. We’ve filed a bill in the Senate and hopefully, after the 2019 election, we can tackle it.”

Aside from the senator, her father, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, has signified his bid for a congressional seat in 2019.

There is also the possibility of a “Binay versus Binay” showdown in Makati, after former Mayor Junjun Binay and current Mayor Abigail Binay said that they would seek the mayoral post.

‘Bato’ enters race

The chief architect of President Duterte’s brutal and bloody campaign against illegal drugs also threw his hat into the ring on Friday and promised that he would prioritize the passage of the death penalty law.

“I asked the convicted Chinese drug lords in Bilibid, ‘why do you insist on trafficking drugs here in the Philippines?’ They said that aside from the very high demand, the law here in the Philippines is very lax and we don’t have the death penalty,” former police chief and now Bureau of Corrections head Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said.

Also on Friday, Sen. Francis Escudero filed his COC in a bid to be the next governor of Sorsogon, his home province, under the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

How about Sara?

Mr. Duterte  expressed confidence that his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, would not run for any national position in the 2019 midterm elections.

“Believe me, she’s too wise for that,” he said at a press briefing in Davao City.

But the President said he did not know the political plans of his son, former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, who, later on Friday, filed his COC for congressman of the first district of Davao.

“Frankly, I have not talked to my son for the longest time since he had his own family. Maybe he finds few opportunities for me to talk to him,” Mr. Duterte said. —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE M. AURELIO, MARLON RAMOS, JOVIC YEE, MAILA AGER AND GABRIEL PABICO LALU