Twelve of the 24 senators of the 19th Congress registered “perfect attendance” since the lawmaking body’s Second Regular Session started on July 24, 2023, according to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, citing records from the Senate Secretariat. ALEXIS CORPUZ/INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Despite reports naming a supposed full administration Senate slate for the 2025 midterm elections, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) President and South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. said that the Bagong Pilipinas alliance does not have an official line-up yet.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Tamayo said that different parties aligned with the PFP were only asked to submit their Senate candidates from within their groups during the meeting at Malacañang.
The PFP official said the official line-up would only be named on September 15.
“There are reports that came out saying that there is a senatorial line-up for the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas. I want to clarify to the public that the administration side still has no line-up for senatorial candidates,” Tamayo said in Filipino.
“What happened was that the different parties supporting the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. were asked to submit the list of their candidates up to September 15. That’s why the supposed list is not true,” he added.
“We will release an announcement regarding the administration’s senatorial line-up once all parties part of the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas have decided.”
Tamayo did not specify what report showed a 12-person slate, but reports from different media outfits showed Senator Imee Marcos name-dropping the administration’s supposed Magic 12 for the 2025 midterm elections.
Senator Marcos said this was supposedly the topic of a meeting in Malacañang last Monday night.
Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte also named seven members of the groups within the alliance, but he said this will still be up for the approval and consensus of all political parties.
The seven possible candidates are former Senate President Sotto (NPC), Deputy Speaker Camille Villar (NP), Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla (Lakas-CMD), Sen. Imee Marcos (NP), Sen. Pia Cayetano (NP), Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. (PFP), and Sen. Francis Tolentino (PFP).
Villafuerte heads the National Unity Party (NUP), while Senator Marcos belongs to the Nacionalista Party (NP) — two groups that signed agreements with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s PFP.
PFP also signed a coalition agreement with Lakas-CMD, led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), headed by former Senate president Vicente Sotto III.