Senator President Vicente Sotto III said Wednesday the Nationalist People’s Coalition has drafted at least 13 possible candidates for senator in the coming May 2019 elections.
Sotto, the party’s highest elected official, said the NPC is allied with the administration but is an independent third force.
He identified some of their candidates from different political parties as reelectionist Senators Grace Poe (Independent), Cynthia Villar (Nacionalista Party), Nancy Binay (Partido ng Masang Pilipino), Sonny Angara (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino), Aquilino Pimentel III (PDP-Laban) and JV Ejercito (Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino).
Sotto said the others in the NPC senatorial slate were former Senator and now Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, Special Assistant to the President Christopher Go, former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid and former Police chief Ronaldo dela Rosa.
Two more candidates for senator were being considered by the NPC, but the party leadership was yet to make its final decision.
Meanwhile, opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the administration bets will have formidable opponents when the opposition, which is now intact, comes out with its senatorial line-up.
“Well, the opposition is now united, and this will come out in the coming weeks. We will present the candidates of the opposition,” Trillanes said.
This will be a good fight in the coming elections because this is very critical for our country. The voters will reject all the candidates of [President Rodrigo] Duterte who deceived them.”
Trillanes said he believed the opposition would dominate the next Senate as they will win eight seats in the 2019 midterm elections due to Duterte’s waning popularity.
The victory of the Resistance Opposition, he said, would depend on things like if the voters still wanted the policy of the administration on Charter change, Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, and the killings that he said the opposition wanted to stop.
In the opposition, he said, they wanted to block the policies prejudicial to public interest like the increase in the prices of goods.
“Just remember, TRAIN is up to package 4. One of the agenda of the opposition is anti-TRAIN, anti-Cha-Cha, anti-EJK, anti-misogyny, anti-corruption, anti-expansion of China in the West Philippine Sea,” Trillanes said.
He said they now had 14 to 15 names but they would submit less than 12 to Vice President Leni Robredo, who would have the final say.
When questioned why the opposition would not field a complete slate, Trillanes said they were still looking for their logistics and resources but everything was still up in the air.
“We don’t know what’s the inclination of VP Leni. We will just give her a shortlist that will enable her to field 12,” Trillanes said.
“But if she feels that 10 will be fielded, then we will field 10.”