Leody de Guzman, chair of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino. (Photo from his Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines — Labor leader Leody de Guzman on Wednesday filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to formalize his run for president, the sixth day of the week-long COC filing.
De Guzman, a candidate for the Senate in the 2019 midterm elections, is running under the Partido Lakas ng Masa, whose platform emphasizes empowering workers.
He lost in the last polls, placing 38th in the senatorial race, which administration candidates heavily dominated.
De Guzman, who is a known champion of workers’ rights, also serves as the chairman of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). On the other hand, another BMP official in lawyer Luke Espiritu will run for the Senate in 2022.
Why did Leody get into the race?
The inside story of De Guzman’s emergence as a candidate for president was revealed by Walden Bello, head of Laban ng Masa (LNM).
In his Facebook post last Sunday, Bello said LNM has sought a meeting with Vice President Leni Robredo to discuss “possibilities” in the 2022 elections but was left facing a blank wall.
Bello said the coalition sought a meeting with Robredo for “nearly three months to discuss possibilities” but was not given one, leading it to declare de Guzman as its presidential candidate.
“Laban ng Masa (LNM) has sought a meeting with her for nearly three months to talk about possibilities, but she and her people won’t even give us the time of day,” he said in a Facebook post.
Bello blasted Robredo’s camp for “spurning forces” on the left, mainly when her supporters asserted that the LNM was “dividing the opposition” by designating De Guzman and not supporting the Vice President’s “undeclared and probably never to be declared candidacy.”
“What nerve – these jokers don’t even want to stoop down and talk to us! If you don’t know who your friends and who your enemies are, you are in trouble, Ms. Vice President,” he said.
Bello further criticized Robredo for courting the former Duterte administration’s allies and enablers for the 2022 polls.
“The problem with Leni is she does not really want to run for president, and her overtures to Pacquiao, Domagoso, and Lacson are really efforts to have them run in her stead for president, with her willing to take the vice presidential spot,” Bello claimed.
“This courtship of former Duterte allies and enablers is, unfortunately, destroying her credibility. Even as she courts the right, she has spurned forces on the left,” he added.