The opposition Liberal Party (LP), boosting Vice President Leni Robredo’s effort to unify the anti-administration ranks, bared an initial list of senatorial candidates it will field in the upcoming national elections.
During its National Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, LP leaders affirmed the nomination of former Senator Bam Aquino IV and reelectionist Senators Francis Pangilinan and detained Leila de Lima as among the LP’s initial senatorial slate, even as Aquino has yet to formally announce plans to join the senatorial derby.
At the same time, LP stalwarts likewise passed a resolution endorsing Akbayan reelectionist Sen. Risa Hontiveros and Atty. Chel Diokno as part of its initial list of guest senatorial candidates.
Hontiveros and Diokno were cited as “candidates from outside [LP’s] ranks, who are aligned with its principles and values and as such are reliable partners in advancing its program of government.”
Moreover, LP stalwarts, likewise, voiced support for Robredo’s ongoing efforts to “create the broadest possible coalition to present an alternative brand of governance to the people,” while a third resolution was passed granting Robredo “full authority and discretion” in initiating talks and coming up with agreements, as well as identifying and assembling a united national slate of candidates for President, Vice President and Senators, “while respecting her preference on the elective position she may decide to run for, if any, with the full support by the Party as a whole.”
LP stalwarts recalled that since June, Vice President Robredo repeatedly emphasized the need to consolidate all opposition forces and present a united front.
In a message to supporters last week Robredo affirmed she was bound to do so, saying: “Tungkulin ko na sagarin ang lahat ng pwedeng sagarin…kausapin ang lahat ng dapat kausapin, magnilay at magdasal nang husto, at i-exhaust ang lahat ng possible avenues to present the best chances for better governance come 2022.”
At the same time, the LP likewise passed a resolution honoring the life and legacy of the late President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III, remembering him as “a stalwart of liberal democracy and a staunch believer in people-centric, people-led governance…he valued freedom above all else, and sought first the Filipino people’s freedom from hunger, from poverty, from ignorance, and from insecurity, instituting massive interventions towards empowerment so that the Filipino may exercise the rest of their freedoms in a manner that is both enlightened and responsible.”
LP stalwarts also resolved to “stand as vanguard to his legacy, which no amount of disinformation, trolling, and historical distortionism should be able to diminish.” Though he spent his post-Malacañang days largely out of the public eye, ex-President Aquino remained close at work with party leadership as LP’s Chairman Emeritus since 2016.