Only 1 of every 3 Senate bets ‘serious’

Reynaldo Santos Jr

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Two independents have network, funds, name recall to get the votes

MANILA, Philippines – If realistic and practical requirements of running a national campaign are to be considered, only about a third of the 84 who filed candidacies for senator this week can be considered serious.

Rappler surveyed the qualifications of these aspirants for 2013 and concluded that only 35 of them can see their campaigns through the end, given the enormous logistical requirements of the exercise. We considered:

  • Their capacity to raise multi-million campaign funds.
  • Their electoral and political experience that means they can put together functioning campaign organizations.
  • If not membership to political parties, then their known political and civil society networks.


These serious senatorial candidates include the 9 who are running under the banner of the Liberal Party (LP)-led administration coalition; 9 under the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA); 3 common candidates of these two major coalitions; 2 independents; 12 of the minority parties Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) and Ang Kapatiran.

Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution lists down these minimum qualifications for those running for senator: a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, at least 35 years old on the day of the election, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for at least 2 years immediately before election day.

However, electoral realities require a candidate to have a reliable machinery or network, enormous campaign kitty, and a professional or government service background to be really qualified to run a national campaign and perform the job when he or she wins.

Common bets, independents

UNA is a coalition of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s PDP-Laban and former President Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino. The LP-led coalition, on the other hand, includes the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the Nacionalista Party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, and Akbayan.

Re-electionists Loren Legarda of NPC and Chiz Escudero, and Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chair Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares have decided to be guest candidates of both coalitions.

Running as independents are former congressman Teddy Casino, outgoing Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, and re-electionist Aquilino Pimentel III. Casino is with Bayan Muna, which has been topping the party-list elections since 2001. Hagedorn is a member of the bloc-voting NPC, which is known to support party members who run for national posts regardless of what coalitions they affiliate with.

Ang Kapatiran Party, which has been joining national races (although with incomplete slates) since the 2007 elections, has fielded 3 candidates for 2013. They include 2010 presidential candidate JC delos Reyes. The party has yet to win a bet in the national race.

KBL, the political party of former president Ferdinand Marcos, has 9 senatorial bets, the most that any individual party has. However, the legitimacy of the party under Oliver Lozano, one of the party’s senatorial bets, is being questioned even by the family of the late president. It remains accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). In 2010, the combined votes of its senatorial candidates were higher than Kapatiran’s.

Almost all of these serious senatorial hopefuls have served in public posts, with most as lawmakers. Out of the 24, 11 are returning senators, and 10 have served in the House of Representatives. Some have served in local government units, and some were appointees in government offices.

The Comelec has until December 21 to finalize the list of senatorial candidates. Disqualification cases and petitions for substitution should therefore be filed and resolved in the next 10 weeks.

In the 2010 elections, 58 out of the 158 senatorial aspirants who filed their CoC made it in the official list of candidates. – Rappler.com

 

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