President’s popularity gives admin bets ‘very good’ chances

Given President Duterte’s popularity, the administration’s senatorial candidates have “very good” chances of winning in next year’s midterm elections, according to presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.

But Panelo said the administration was not discounting the “fact that some opposition candidates [would] win.”

The ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) is still finalizing the administration’s lineup with the support of Hugpong ng Pagbabago, its regional ally, Panelo said.

So far, only Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, former Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go and former national police chief Ronald dela Rosa have filed their certificates of candidacy as candidates of PDP-Laban, headed by Pimentel.

‘Battle for truth’

The opposition coalition has also announced its eight-candidate senatorial slate, which includes Sen. Bam Aquino, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano.

Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros, meanwhile, warned that next year’s elections would be “a battle for truth amid attempts at gross historical revisionism.”

“This is a fight against national amnesia,” she said in a statement, referring to martial law architect and former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Ilocos Norte governor Imee Marcos who both filed their senatorial bid earlier this week. —JULIE M. AURELIO