INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

Left eyes 3 Senate seats

Inquirer Visayas

Nestor P. Burgos Jr.

ILOILO CITY—Encouraged by their successes in party-list polls, a coalition of activist groups will aim for three seats in the Senate in the 2010 elections, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño, said over the weekend.

It will be the first time in over two decades that the leftist bloc will compete for Senate seats.

Not one of seven senatorial candidates of the leftist coalition Partido ng Bayan survived the 1987 polls, a year after a people power revolt (EDSA-I) restored democracy in the country.

But Casiño said the coalition had been buoyed by the good showing of its party-list group Bayan Muna, which garnered the highest number of votes in 2001 and 2004, increasing its seats in Congress from three in 2001 to six in 2004 and eight in 2007.

Next year, Casiño said the Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan (Makabayan) would be ready to join the Senate race again.

He said it would most likely field Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Liza Maza and himself as their senatorial candidates. Makabayan also includes the labor party-list group Anakpawis and the youth group Kabataan.

Casiño is a former youth leader and national president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, while Maza leads the militant women’s group Gabriela.

Ocampo is a former journalist and rebel leader during the martial law period. One of the longest detained political prisoners, he became a leading member of the peace panel of the National Democratic Front in 1986.

“We believe it is high time that we field senatorial candidates to bring our pro-people agenda and platform in the Senate. And we have gained the capacity to do that,” Casiño told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday.

Casiño said the coalition garnered three million votes from their combined showing in the 2007 elections and this could easily be doubled if they field senatorial candidates.

“The people are more familiar with senatorial candidates than party-list elections, so we could increase our base,” he said.

Makabayan also plans to field or support its own candidates for local positions and increase its eight seats in the House of Representatives, according to Casiño.

“We are engaged in serious discussion with opposition parties for a coalition slate next year. This coalition would be based on unity in specific platforms and cooperation between our parties,” he said.

A blog “Satur for Senator” (http://satur4senator.ning.com) has already been launched as part of Ocampo’s planned senatorial bid.

“The government and its military threw everything at us including arresting and killing our supporters and leaders but we gained more seats because of our advocacies,” said Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares in an earlier interview.

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