CITY OF SAN JOSE DEL MONTE — President Duterte on Thursday rallied support for 11 senatorial candidates he finally endorsed in May’s midterm elections, after a pruning of the administration slate that saw the removal of former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada from the lineup.
Duterte confirmed that Estrada had been dropped from the administration ticket by saying his candidates were only those he endorsed during the proclamation rally here.
“Yes, because I have to be true to myself. What I said here, that’s it,” he said in a talk with reporters after the rally.
Estrada, who is facing trial on graft and plunder charges over the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, was dropped from the administration slate last week but it was not immediately announced.
A friend
Duterte said he felt awkward not to mention Estrada, who was at an event in Legazpi City where he spoke last week.
“He was there. How can I not [mention him]. . . Even for just one single day, you can tell all 13 candidates that they are your bets,” Duterte said.
“What is that to a friend? We know that he has suffered. We know that he was in prison,” he added.
The President joined the candidates at the launch of the campaign of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) led by the party president, Sen. Koko Pimentel, who has been cleared to run for reelection by the Comelec.
With his disqualification case out of the way, Pimentel said his campaign could now focus on his credentials, achievements and advocacies as a lawmaker.
PROCLAMATION RALLY President Duterte, the ruling PDP-Laban party national chair, and Sen. Manny Pacquiao, the party’s campaign manager, introduce the administration’s candidates in the midterm polls in May during the kickoff rally at City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, (from left) Sen. Sonny Angara, Sen. JV Ejercito, Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, former Bureau of Corrections Director General Ronald dela Rosa, former presidential aide Bong Go, Sen. Koko Pimentel, Francis Tolentino, Sen. Cynthia Villar, Rep. Pia Cayetano and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos. Also endorsed by the President but not in photo is singer Freddie Aguilar. —JOAN BONDOC
Damocles sword
The Comelec ruled that since he had not fully served his first term, he could run in the midterm polls this year.
“I am very happy that the Comelec has finally decided on the cases which have served as a Damocles sword over my candidacy,” he said.
Pimentel first ran in 2007. Losing the polls, he filed an electoral protest against 12th placer Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri.
The Senate Electoral Tribunal eventually ruled in his favor and he took his oath as senator in 2011, allowing him to serve only one and a half years of his first term. He won in the 2013 election and is now running for a second term.
The PDP-Laban’s other senatorial candidates are former presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino, former Bureau of Corrections Director General Ronald dela Rosa, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu and former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go.
At the Bulacan campaign rally, the ruling party’s campaign manager, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, introduced their guest candidates: reelectionist Senators Cynthia Villar, Sonny Angara and JV Ejercito, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and singer Freddie Aguilar.
Qualifications
Mr. Duterte, the PDP-Laban national chair, spoke at length about each of the candidates’ qualifications except Aguilar, his favorite folk singer.
He hailed Dela Rosa as a “brave, patriotic and fundamentally honest” public servant who was “ready to die for his country.”
He said Go, his longtime aide, “only wants to serve. He only wants to work, he wants to know everybody.”
“That’s why even the communists will vote for him,” Mr. Duterte said.
Pimentel, a bar topnotcher, is “bright, honest and not difficult to work with,” the President said.
‘Mother to the nation’
Villar is a minimalist “mother to the nation” who “keeps everything in order,” he said.
“She has been a very dedicated public servant … She is very industrious and rich,” he added.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday promised to bat for all seven senators seeking reelection, including opposition Sen. Bam Aquino.
The other reelectionists are Senators Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, Pimentel, Angara, Ejercito and Villar.
If invited, Sotto said he would join their rallies. On Wednesday, he went to Tondo, Manila, for Poe’s campaign kickoff rally.
Joining him there were Pimentel, Angara, Binay, Ejercito, Villar and a representative for Aquino.
“You can see the trust and confidence of the people now in the Senate. The trust rating of the Senate has never been this high. This means it’s not just because of the leadership, but also because of my colleagues,” Sotto told reporters.
Poe sees advantage
Sotto attributed this kind of unity to good ties among his colleagues.
“I think it’s because of the camaraderie and the work we do in the Senate…. We have unity,” he said.
Poe said one advantage of not having the President’s endorsement is that she could freely express her thoughts.
Among the senators in the majority, only Poe and Binay were the ones with no backing from the administration.
“I won’t deny that if you’re endorsed by the administration, it’s different. It would be easier on your resources, but I can’t force [an endorsement],” Poe said.
Poe, who ran against Mr. Duterte in the 2016 polls, said the focus of her campaign this time was her anticorruption agenda.
“I will continue watching the corrupt in government,” she said.
Poe would also push for the passage of a freedom of information law.
Palace warns vs scammers
In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo warned against scammers who were reported to be using the President’s name without authority to solicit funds and campaign materials for the administration candidates.
“For everyone’s information and guidance, the President has not authorized anyone in either the private or public sector, including government agencies like the Bureau of Customs, to resort to such illegal undertakings,” he said. —WITH REPORTS FROM CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO AND LEILA B. SALAVERRIA