2 sides of same activist coin back each other’s bid

Former Rep. Walden Bello of Akbayan and Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

IDEOLOGICAL differences aside, former Rep. Walden Bello of Akbayan and Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna are supportive of each other’s senatorial run.

On Friday, Bello said he would be voting for Colmenares, his party-mate Risa Hontiveros, a member of the administration slate, and migrant rights advocate Susan “Toots” Ople, in hopes of forming a “progressive bloc” in the Senate.

“I think, like Riza, he will be a progressive voice in the Senate,” Bello said of Colmenares, a member of presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe’s senatorial slate.

“This is not to say ideological differences do not matter, but with enough work, they can be surmounted,” Bello told the Inquirer.

But he clarified that he would only be voting—not campaigning—for the three other candidates.

Colmenares, on the other hand, said he believed Bello’s thoughtful critiques of administration policies would be important in the Senate.

“Though I cannot categorically endorse Walden because I am part of Team GP (Team Galing at Puso) with a full Senate slate, I can say that Walden Bello is very much qualified and his independent critical stand against the establishment is needed in the Senate,” he said.

Colmenares said he was thankful for Bello’s vote, but it would be “inappropriate” for someone on a senatorial slate to endorse another candidate.

Both candidates, especially Bello who is running his campaign on a shoestring budget, have a long climb to the Magic 12.

The latest Social Weather Stations voter preference survey put Colmenares in the 21st to 23rd spot and Bello at 37th to 43rd. Their ranking in the Pulse Asia survey was only slightly better, with Colmenares in 20th to 22nd place, and Bello in 31st to 43rd.

Bello, a former ally and now outspoken critic of President Aquino, remains an Akbayan member but the party-list group now deeply linked to the Liberal Party campaign has not endorsed his candidacy.

He broke away from an alliance with Mr. Aquino and resigned his congressional seat at the height of the Jan. 25, 2015,  debacle in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, where elite police commandos clashed with Moro rebels, leaving 44 of the government men and 15 militants dead.

 No party support

Speaking at the regular Pandesal Forum in Quezon City, Akbayan’s fourth nominee Rafaela David said she personally supports Bello, as do many of her party mates, but the party could not officially do so.

“He’s still with the party. We have disagreements with the coalition work, but he has never left as a member of Akbayan,” she said of Bello, a long-time activist and noted academic with a doctorate in Sociology from Princeton.

Pressed to explain why Akbayan did not endorse Bello, David said: “We didn’t have a process in relation to his candidacy. But we have members who are supporting him, like me. We believe he’s elevating the discourse in the campaign.”

Bello admitted he did not seek Akbayan’s official endorsement, as he had not participated in the party convention, during which it decided on the candidates to field in the May polls.