Will this third try be the charm for militant groups?
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares is the latest militant lawmaker to attempt to land a Senate seat, which has usually gone to well-entrenched, moneyed politicos and their scions.
Colmenares’ run for the Senate is backed not just by his own Makabayan coalition of progressive groups, but by a considerable cast of political personalities.
Leading Colmenares’ endorsers is the tandem of Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero. The two are running for president and vice president without a political party of their own, but may be supported by other groups.
Also backing Colmenares is the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the country’s second-biggest political party, which is also expected to support Poe and Escudero.
NPC President and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao introduced Poe and Escudero as the country’s next president and vice president at Wednesday’s Makabayan convention.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, who welcomed the Makabayan convention in Manila, also pledged to support Colmenares.
“If Colmenares was able to do great things as a Makabayan partylist representative, how much more if he becomes a senator? Estrada said. “We need the likes of him in the Senate. Even when he opposes his colleagues, he does so respectfully and calmly.”
Colmenares was the first senatorial candidate that Poe and Estrada endorsed.
Makabayan is expected to reciprocate the support thrown by Poe and Escudero, although officially, it has yet to decide which presidential and vice-presidential candidates to back in 2016.
The 2016 elections will be the third time the militant groups will attempt to break into the Senate.
They first fielded Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza in the 2010 elections, where they teamed up with the Nacionalista Party. For the 2013 polls, Makabayan fielded Teddy Casiño. Both attempts were unsuccessful.–With a report from Jodee A. Agoncillo
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Poe, Escudero endorse Colmenares as first member of senatorial slate