MANILA, Philippines — Opposition coalition 1Sambayan is in talks with up to three more candidates to join its pool of nominees for the 2022 national elections, one of its co-conveners said Monday.
“Although I cannot name them, we’re still in the process of talking or negotiating with some other individuals so that we can really give an alternative or a choice to the Filipino people,” lawyer Howard Calleja said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
“We’re waiting for the decision of another two or three. Of course I cannot divulge until we finalize their engagement with 1Sambayan,” he added.
“It is, I would say, a common approach. Both parties are happy to have engaged and to have reached out to each other and I think it would just be a matter of time for both parties [that] we will announce these additional individuals who will be included in our pool of nominees,” he further said.
Earlier, 1Sambayan, launched by retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, met with some possible candidates, including Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Sen. Nancy Binay, Sen. Grace Poe, and former Sen. Antonio Trillanes.
Trillanes, for his part, recently announced that he was open to become the “principal candidate for President to vie for the Coalition’s nomination” in the event that Robredo runs for Camarines Sur governor.
‘Nothing has changed’
But Calleja said “nothing has changed” following this pronouncement from the former senator.
“When we launched on March 18, we already identified Sen. Sonny as one of the nominees for the position of president or vice president together with Vice President Leni and the other nominees,” he said.
“Nothing has changed. Senator Sonny has always been and continues to be one of the nominees in the slate of 1Sambayan in the same light that VP Leni is and still is one of the nominees in the slate of 1Sambayan,” he added.
According to Calleja, the coalition is “focused” on national candidates such as the presidential and vice presidential nominees and a complete slate of 12 senatorial candidates.
“But there is a lot of clamor for local positions that will be considered on a later date,” he added.