2022 ELECTIONS | Opposition senator to seek reelection in next elections

June 22, 2021 , 06:38 PM

(June 22, 2021) – A critic of President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he would seek another six-year term in the upper chamber of Congress, the first politician to announce his plans for next year’s election.

Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan told journalists he planned to continue his projects for the country’s farmers and fisherfolk who suffered huge losses during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“That is the plan,” Pangilinan said. “Nakita ko na marami pa ring challenges sa agriculture sector, marami pa ring challenges lalo na ngayon sa COVID—there is a need for food security all the more.”

Pangilinan, a lawyer by profession, won his first Senate seat in 2001 and was re-elected for a second term in 2007. He ended his term in 2013.

Married to a celebrity wife Sharon Cuneta, he joined the Aquino Cabinet as farm sector adviser and won a seat in the Senate in 2016.

Only detained Liberal Party senator Leila de Lima is eligible to run but is no longer interested.

Both senators Franklin Drilon and Ralph Recto have served two terms and may run for local positions.

Senators are eligible to run for two consecutive six-year terms under the 1987 Constitution. They can run again for the same position as long as they observe at least a three-year gap before gunning for another senatorial term, similar to what Pangilinan did.

But the Liberal Party has yet to finalize its senatorial slate, according to Pangilinan, who serves as the opposition party’s president. Vice President Leni Robredo is the party chairman.

Former senators Bam Aquino and Mar Roxas have yet to decide if they would return to the upper house. Pangilinan said they would also welcome former Otso Diretso candidates who competed but lost in the 2019 midterm elections.

Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, who was among the eight senatorial candidates of the opposition party two years ago, has already declared his intention to run for public office next year. But he did not say the particular position he would seek.

Diokno is among the six preferred standard-bearers of the broad opposition coalition, 1Sambayan, headed by a former senior associate justice of the country’s top court. He said running for president was still “in the realm of possibilities” although he never aspired for the two top posts in the government.

Despite the uncertainties, Pangilinan said they have started their own efforts to build the “broadest coalition possible” to face administration bets. Liberal Party had informal talks with three incumbent senators and a city mayor in the capital region to forge unities in the elections, but nothing was final.

Pangilinan graduated from the University of the Philippines before he pursued a master’s degree in public administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

He worked as a member of former President Benigno Aquino III’s Cabinet in 2014 as an assistant for food security and agricultural modernization. He also took leadership roles in agriculture-related agencies, like the National Food Authority and the Philippine Coconut Authority.

(Beatrice Puente/MM)

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