ANC After The Fact

Last week, Vice President Leni Robredo made it official — after careful thought and consultation with other members of the opposition, she’s running for president in 2022.

In a week full of suprises, her choice of vice presidential candidate was also quite unnexpected. 

Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party, was widely expected to seek reelection. but for some reason, he was picked as Robredo’s runningmate.

We’ll look more closely into his candidacy and the tough road ahead for the opposition in the 2022 elections.

The last day of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy brought a few surprises. 

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa running for president at the last minute representing a faction of the ruling PDP-Laban Party.

Dela Rosa, of course, was not the administration candidate many had been expecting. But the president’s daughter made it clear again that she’s seeking reelection as Davao City mayor. 

Nut with substitution still allowed by November 15, Dela Rosa is widely expected as a seat warmer until perhaps, Sara Duterte is finally convinced to take his place. 

In this case, should we take Dela Rosa’S candidacy seriously?

Vice President Leni Robredo is running for president in 2022 ending months of hopeful anticipation among supporters who believe the Philippines can no longer endure and does not deserve six more years of a Duterte-like governance.

The other goal, of course, is to defeat the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos who is also gunning for the presidency.  

In a speech before she filed her certificate of candidacy, Robredo made clear her will is strong to take up the challenge. She also asked supporters to go out of their comfort zones, reach out, take a stand and take action.

Now comes the important part — how does she win? How does she overcome perceived advantages of other candidates in terms of support base political machinery and of course, money?

Earlier today, a former senator caused quite a stir for seeking to represent midwives in next year’s party-list elections.

Online, people were quick to criticize to ridicule lawyer Jose Lina, who’s also a former Laguna Province Governor and Interior Secretary.

“Komadrona ba sya? Nakapagpa-anak na ba sya?”

Lina happens to be the principal author of Philippine Midwifery Act of 1992. But it didn’t placate those who felt that the party-list system was being abused.

Of course, we’ve seen really bad examples in the past — wealthy politicians claiming to represent the marginalized all to secure a seat in Congress.

The rich seeking to represent tricycle drivers, for instance, or security guards and farmers.

Worse, which we saw in recent election cycles, political clans and dynasties expanding their rule by seizing additional seats in congress through the party-list background.

In this episode, we go deep into the problems besetting our party-list system, why it has been so prone to abuse and whether as many have suggested it’s perhaps time, to just abolish it.

Earlier today, the son of the former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos announced that he’s running for president in 2022.

The recorded video announcement was short Marcos Junior promising to bring back a “unifying leadership” to this country which his father ruled with an iron fist for most of his 20-year regime and based on official records and court decisions a nation plundered by the family and its cronies worth billions of dollars.

So, why should Filipinos today vote for Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.?

And what would explain his strong showing in surveys, which, if true, would raise the prospect of another Marcos in Malacañang 36 years after Filipinos booted them out?

Over the weekend, the Philippine Department of Justice announced that more than 150 police officers could be held criminally liable over abuses in the government’s drug war.

But these officers tagged in a total of 52 cases will still be investigated presumably by the National Bureau of Investigation. 

When the investigation would be completed and whether charges would be filed — and whether cases  would lead to convictions — all still remain to be seen.

In this episode we talk about these pending investigations — more than five years since President Duterte unleashed his brutal crack down.

In 2019, the bitter rivalry between the sons of former President Joseph Estrada provided a colorful side story to the midterm elections that year.

Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito both ran for the senate despite warnings that doing so would be disastrous for both of them.

True enough, both of them lost failing in their bid to return to the upper chamber. 

Worse, that election also saw the end of the Estrada dynasty in san juan and the family’s control of the Philippine Capital City of Manila.

By his own admission, Ejercito said the family only had themselves to blame.

But he and Jinggoy are again running for senator in 2022 unable to resolve their differences and with the possibility that it will be 2019 all over again for them. 

On the eve of the filing of the certificates of candidacy, a of opposition groups known as 1Sambayan has endorsed vice president leni robredo as its presidential candidate in 2022.

The goal, of course, is to beat President Duterte’s candidate and the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. 

But while Robredo thanked 1Sambayan for picking her, she made it clear that deciding to run for president shouldn’t be based on one’s ambition or the prodding of others. 

Instead, she asked her supporters to join her in prayer in the next few days that whatever her decision would be would be the best for the country.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, Robredo was tied for third place behind frontrunner Sara Duterte and Bongbong Marcos, Isko Moreno, and Manny Pacquiao who were tied at second place. 

Senators investigating the government’s multi-billion-peso supply deals with Pharmally have been heavily criticized by President Duterte. 

Recently, he likened the Blue Ribbon Committee’s treatment of an evasive Pharmally official to Martial Law on top,  of course, of previous insults he unleased against certain senators. 

But from the other side of the bicameral chamber, senators are also getting some heavy criticism from their congressional colleagues. 

The hearings, according to one congressman, were in “aid of election” not of legislation.

In this episode, we look into how the house committee on good government has been conducting its own inquiry and whether its own investigation is actually meant to protect Pharmally and the president at the expense of public accountability.

Last week, Senator Manny Pacquiao sat down with leaders of the 1Sambayan coalition to discuss efforts to unify the opposition against President Duterte’s candidate in 2022.

Pacquiao had already declared his candidacy for president and it’s the coalition that is yet to name its standard-bearer. Many of its members are waiting for Vice President Leni Robredo to run for president. But she herself is open to giving way to another aspirant with a better chance of defeating Duterte’s candidate or prevent another Marcos from returning to Malacañang. 

In this episode we go deep into these unification talks between Senator Pacquiao and 1Sambayan. Does it remain likely or is it too late for that?