EXCLUSIVE: Risa, Leni to campaign for 3 ‘independents’ in 2025 senatorial race
Sen. Risa Hontiveros will serve as the campaign manager for three senatorial candidates led by former Sen. Francis Pangilinan who are running as alternative bets from those aligned with Marcos and Duterte slates in the midterm election next year.
Pangilinan said on Monday that Hontiveros will serve as the overall campaign manager for himself, former Sen. Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV and human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Tadeo “Chel” Diokno.
Apart from Hontiveros, former Vice President Leni Robredo, who is also seeking to become the mayor of her hometown Naga City, will also be campaigning for them, according to Pangilinan.
Last week, former Senate President Franklin Drilon thumbed down claims that Vice President Sara Duterte is the new opposition leader following the collapse of her alliance with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“Hontiveros has been consistent in opposing the policies of the Marcos administration and the Duterte group,” Drilon told the Inquirer Mobile, adding that she should be recognized as the leader of the opposition, and not Duterte.
Hontiveros, not Sara Duterte, is the face of the opposition—Drilon
In a series of text messages, Pangilinan said Hontiveros may join them in their sorties “in a number of areas.”
“But in my experience, having been national campaign manager thrice, it will also require her to be in the ‘war room,’ calling in the shots in the campaign headquarters in Manila,” he said of Hontiveros.
Having Hontiveros as their campaign manager will help further define and highlight our good governance and issue-based campaign platform, Pangilinan said.
In the Senate, Hontiveros has been championing the opposition’s fight against corruption, leading inquiries into illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators in the country that has so far brought charges against dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.
Pangilian said that Robredo, who ran for president and was his running mate in the 2022 presidential election, will also campaign for them and join some of their sorties outside Metro Manila.
Individual parties
While Pangilinan, Aquino and Diokno are teaming up for the senatorial race, they each represent their individual parties.
Pangilinan remains a candidate for the Liberal Party (LP), while Aquino, who took a leave from the LP, is now the leader of the Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). Diokno is now with Akbayan, the party of Hontiveros.
“We are working to make the 2025 midterm elections a three-cornered fight, to give our voters an alternative to Marcos and Duterte’s tickets,” Pangilinan said.
He said they will have “both joint and individual/separate sorties” during the campaign period.
Asked whether they will share resources as a group, he said they will “all bring in (their own) resources.”
Unsuccessful campaigns
In 2022, Pangilinan lost the vice presidential race to Duterte, the running mate of President Marcos Jr.
Diokno, a member of LP’s senatorial slate, lost the race as well.
Aquino, on the other hand, served as the campaign manager for the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem in the 2022 national elections. Aquino lost in his 2019 re-election bid.
Pangilinan is the sole LP senatorial candidate for the midterm election next year, as former Senate president Franklin Drilon, who finished his last Senate term in 2022, has no more plans to run for reelection.
Drilon has made the decision to spend more time with his family, leaving it to other people to run for office.
“I have done my share. I’ve served the government and I think to the best of my ability. Let the people judge me, let history judge me but after being in government for over 30 years, give others the chance (to run for an elective position),” he told InqMobile.
He acknowledged that despite LP’s desire to assert itself as the opposition party in the Marcos administration, it couldn’t do so due to its inability to secure crucial political seats in the previous elections.
According to Drilon, the reason is that the country doesn’t have a genuine political party system, but instead a party system that is based on personalities rather than platforms.
“That’s the sad reality that we have in our country today insofar as our political system is concerned,” he lamented.
‘Seen the worse’
“I take my hat off to him. He has been true to the platform for which LP stands for. He has maintained that position,” Drilon said about Pangilinan.
When asked about LP’s current standing, Pangilinan replied: “We have seen worse and I know for as long as sweeping reforms remain to be undertaken in our politics and governance, LP and our long time political allies will remain a force to contend with.”
Has he been approached by other parties and political blocs, including Makabayan, to join a senatorial panel?
Pangilinan said that “talks (are) still ongoing.”
“(This is) between and among groups, including Makabayan. But (these are) all in preliminary stages,” he said.
During a visit to Cebu City last month, Pangilinan, Aquino, and Diokno made the announcement that they will be running independently in the senatorial election next year. Hontiveros attended the event and expressed hope that they could work together again in the Senate.
Bam Aquino, Kiko Pangilinan to join Senate race as independent bets
