Labor leader Luke Espiritu. PHOTO FROM OFFICIAL FB PAGE
MANILA, Philippines — Labor leader Luke Espiritu will run for senator in the 2025 elections, according to Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) president Leody de Guzman.
De Guzman announced it on Thursday after he was asked about his plans for the upcoming polls.
Espiritu was a senatorial candidate in the 2022 elections under the team of then-presidential candidate De Guzman and vice presidential bet Walden Bello.
“I’m thinking, but the decision lies with my party PLM; they are still debating whether it’s right for me to run now or not,” he said in Filipino in an ambush interview after groups filed a graft complaint against Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla before the Office of the Ombudsman.
READ: Groups file graft charges vs Energy chief Lotilla
“But I’m sure my partner Atty. Luke is going to run. He wants to run for the 2025 senatorial elections because he wants to bring up issues like this and wage hike matters,” he added.
Among the issues De Guzman was pertaining to was Lotilla’s alleged endorsement of Aboitiz Power’s Therma Visayas Inc. Unit 3 expansion, which groups claimed violated a coal moratorium issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2020 during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Under the moratorium, concerned stakeholders were notified that the DOE would not process applications for greenfield coal-fired power generation facility projects requesting endorsements and operational coal-fired power generation facilities, among others.
Earlier, the PLM, Gabriela party list, and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-approved P35 wage hike was “insufficient” and “an insult” to hardworking Filipinos.
The Department of Labor and Employment announced the approval last July 1. The pay adjustment took effect on July 17.