Militant and labor groups converged at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, to stage a protest action against the government and contractualization as the nation marks Labor Day. INQUIRER.net / DARRYL JOHN ESGUERRA
MANILA, Philippines—Despite ranking outside the list of probable winners of the May 13 polls, Bayan Muna chairperson and opposition senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares has remained confident of winning in the midterm elections.
He said he was banking on the labor, youth, and church vote which he tagged as his “bailiwicks.”
According to the latest Pulse Asia survey, Colmenares ranked 19th to 23rd with 68 percent awareness. He is six spots away from the list of senatorial hopefuls with a statistical chance of winning.
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Colmenares said that the strongest bailiwick of progressive senatoriables like him lies on the labor vote, which he said can even push a candidate to the top five of the winning list.
“Forty-two million ang labor (votes), kapag kalahati lang d’yan ang bumoto sa independent at progressive senators, hindi lang iyan pasok sa top 12 baka nasa top five pa ‘yan,” Colmenares told INQUIRER.net in an interview at Plaza Miranda on Labor Day.
The Bayan Muna chair also cited how he performed well in universities and colleges’ mock polls.
“Napakataas naming mga independent candidates sa mga universities and colleges mock polls. In fact, ‘yung mga top 12 wala nga minsan sa university at student votes e,” he said.
Colmenares also said that the Catholic Church, which has been on the receiving ends of President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirades, would unite and support candidates critical of the administration.
“This administration has launched one of the sharpest attacks on the Church. I think this election will be different. For a long period of time, there was no Church vote, no Catholic vote but this is a different situation,” he said.
“This is a situation na hindi pa nangyari before na pinakamatinding atake sa simbahan na pati ang Diyos tinatawag na stupid. At ‘yan ang hindi matatantiya ng anumang survey, hindi matatantiya ng Malacañang kapag lumabas ang simbahan at sinabi sa mga faithful na this time around we will not tolerate a President who attacks the church,” he added./ac
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