The first week of October was the official registration period, and 97 candidates decided to run for President while 29 did so for Vice President. After a variety of dropouts and substitutions, the definitve list, which will be finalised in January, is out, and with it this thread shall show the major candidates running. The election, as with the rest of the Pinoy Political races for Congress and the like, will be held on Monday, May 9. A little early, but Filipino election news tends to start early like the US or Germany.
Here's how it'll go down. It's a simple national popular vote, whomever gets the most votes wins. However, the offices of President and Vice President are elected on separate tickets, so you can have office holders from different parties in charge. This has happened five times in Filipino history, most recently in 2016 with Duterte coming from PDP-Laban(which has fractured significantly during his tenure)and his VP, Leni Robredo, coming from the Liberals. So, although these candidate profiles will show both Presidential and preferred running mates, keep in mind that both won't necessarily be elected.
As for the rest, all the provincial governors and Sangguniang Panlalawigans, or provincial boards, will be up for election, as will Congress, all municipal races, and the Bangasmoro Parliament(in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or the BARMM, an autonomous region), so you might see some news for them here on occasion. Congress is bicameral, the House of Representatives is made up of 316 seats, up from 304. 253 are FPTP constituencies, and the remaining 63(in accordance with the constitution requiring this from at least 20% of the House) are list seats in a nationwide constituency with a 2% threshold. It's not PR, however, the party with the most votes here gets three seats, all other parties above 2% get two, and parties below 2% can also get two if the seats aren't filled up by them. As for the Senate, half of its 24 members, chosen in a single nationwide constituency will be up for election via block vote where people can choose up to 12 candidates from all parties.
Now to meet the top candidates and their "running mates" though I must again stress that President and VP are separate races. Also, political goals might be somewhat scant this early on, and not all major presidential candidates have preferred mates as of yet...This is going to be big, so there will be spoiler tags.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. AKA Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte - Federal Party(PFP) and Lakas-CMD: Centre-right
Yes, Ferdinand Marcos' son is running for President. He's a college dropout, dropping out of both Oxford and the Wharton School before returning to the Philippines at age 23 to become Vice Governor of Ilocos Norte in 1980. Three years later, he was appointed Governor by his father and served that title until Corazon Aquino and the People Power Revolution drove the Marcos' out of the country. He would be among the first family members to return in 1991 and was elected to Congress in his family's KBL party(still chaired by Imelda Marcos today) for Ilocos Norte the following year.
He served one three-year term there, and ran for Senate in 1995 but came in 16th. He returned to the Ilocos Norte Governorship in 1998, serving three terms before leaving the post in 2007 in favour of his cousin Michael. He returned to his old congressional seat(which had been held by his sister Imee in the meantime) and was elected unopposed. He also became Deputy House Minority Leader at that time. He only served a single term again before running for Senate in 2010, this time under the Nacionalistas. He came in 7th this time around, giving him a seat. He left the KBL in 2012, and the KBL-NP alliance died shortly after.
In 2014, he was implicated in the PDAF scam, which involved him channeling ₱100 million(roughly US$2.3 million at the time) into fake NGOs that he helped create. He was sued in 2016 for plunder over the scheme, which proved to be ₱205 million(US$4.7 million). In 2016, he ran for Vice President as an independent alongside PRP Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. Santiago came in fifth(Duterte won), and Marcos came in a very close second to Robredo which he contested. The resulting recount saw Robredo's lead actually go up. Now, he is running for President, and although Duterte hasn't endorsed anyone so far, he's on record as saying that he would resign if Marcos was his VP. He set up the PFP earlier that October and announced it on his social media. He has a YouTube page with over a million subscribers.
At his side, Sara Duterte is, as you might expect, the daughter and long-time deputy of her father. She's a Colonel in the Army Reserve, and she graduated from San Pedro College in 1999 with a Bachelor's in Respiratory Therapy. In 2005, she passed the bar and worked under Supreme Court Justice Romeo Callejo Sr. In 2007, she was elected Vice Mayor of Davao City under her father, and the pair switched their roles in the 2010 election. In 2011, she infamously punched a Davao City sheriff over the planned demolition of a shanty neighbourhood and was ultimately compelled to apologise the following year. She took a break from politics in 2013, but came back as Mayor in 2016. By 2018, her father had effectively anointed her as his successor, but she decided to run alongside Marcos this year instead, with her brother Sebastian taking her place as Mayor.
Still, of all the known candidates, he is polling at the top with some polls giving him an outright majority. Duterte is polling second at an average of 35%.
He served one three-year term there, and ran for Senate in 1995 but came in 16th. He returned to the Ilocos Norte Governorship in 1998, serving three terms before leaving the post in 2007 in favour of his cousin Michael. He returned to his old congressional seat(which had been held by his sister Imee in the meantime) and was elected unopposed. He also became Deputy House Minority Leader at that time. He only served a single term again before running for Senate in 2010, this time under the Nacionalistas. He came in 7th this time around, giving him a seat. He left the KBL in 2012, and the KBL-NP alliance died shortly after.
In 2014, he was implicated in the PDAF scam, which involved him channeling ₱100 million(roughly US$2.3 million at the time) into fake NGOs that he helped create. He was sued in 2016 for plunder over the scheme, which proved to be ₱205 million(US$4.7 million). In 2016, he ran for Vice President as an independent alongside PRP Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. Santiago came in fifth(Duterte won), and Marcos came in a very close second to Robredo which he contested. The resulting recount saw Robredo's lead actually go up. Now, he is running for President, and although Duterte hasn't endorsed anyone so far, he's on record as saying that he would resign if Marcos was his VP. He set up the PFP earlier that October and announced it on his social media. He has a YouTube page with over a million subscribers.
At his side, Sara Duterte is, as you might expect, the daughter and long-time deputy of her father. She's a Colonel in the Army Reserve, and she graduated from San Pedro College in 1999 with a Bachelor's in Respiratory Therapy. In 2005, she passed the bar and worked under Supreme Court Justice Romeo Callejo Sr. In 2007, she was elected Vice Mayor of Davao City under her father, and the pair switched their roles in the 2010 election. In 2011, she infamously punched a Davao City sheriff over the planned demolition of a shanty neighbourhood and was ultimately compelled to apologise the following year. She took a break from politics in 2013, but came back as Mayor in 2016. By 2018, her father had effectively anointed her as his successor, but she decided to run alongside Marcos this year instead, with her brother Sebastian taking her place as Mayor.
Still, of all the known candidates, he is polling at the top with some polls giving him an outright majority. Duterte is polling second at an average of 35%.
Isko Moreno and Willie Ong - Aksyon Demokratiko(Aksyon): Centre-left
Francisco Domagoso started out poor. When he was a teenager he pushed a cart filled with old newspapers and glass bottle to recycle for money. He would also dumpster dive for food in restaurant dumpsters for his family. A talent scout discovered him at 18 in 1992 at, of all places, a friend's funeral. He immediately joined That's Entertainment, a daily TV variety show run by German Moreno, which he was so grateful that he adopted his stage name, Isko Moreno. He did a few films, some of which were actually softcore pornography. His acting career is predominantly mainstream, however, and acting credits even go as recently as 2019.
As for politics, he started fairly early here, being elected a Manila City Councillor in 1998, undertaking his college studies while serving his constituents, eventually getting a BA from the International Academy of Management and Economics in Makati. When his three-term limit was up, Moreno ran for Vice Mayor in 2007 for the local Asenso Manileño party. He won, but his running mate came in second place against Liberal former Senator and previous Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. He would be re-elected as a Liberal alongside Lim in 2010. In 2013, he was again re-elected, this time under the PMP of former President and film star Joseph Estrada. He had between elections jumped ship to the Nacionalistas, and would now work with the UNA as well, a PMP-PDP-Laban electoral coalition.
He was arrested in February 2013 alongside other councillors for hosting an illegal bingo game in a public place, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, and some claim that the charges were politically motivated by Alfredo Lim. In September 2014, five barangay(effectively neighbourhood/community council)chairs filed plunder charges against Moreno, claiming he had pocketed ₱70 million(US$1.6 million) in property taxes for himself, a charge he dismissed as political again since the barangay that was being "plundered" consisted entirely of the infamous landfill "Smokey Mountain" and dispersing funds from unpopulated barangays was perfectly legal. He ran for Senate in 2015 but ended up 16th. He would later take up low-level but important position in the Duterte administration in 2017(Chair of NorthRail) and 2018(an Undersecretary for Luzon Affairs in the Social Welfare and Development Department). In 2019, he was elected Mayor of Manila, a post he still holds today. He's a popular mayor for his handling of the pandemic, providing monthly student, senior, single-parent, and disability allowances to city residents, and his restoration and construction of public works.
As for his running mate, Willie Ong is a Chinese-Filipino cardiologist who has written several health-related books. He had his own health-related TV show on RJTV in 2005, and was a volunteer on Salamat Dok on ABS-CBN for 10 years. He left that show in 2018 to pursue politics, something he writes about in several newspaper columns. He also has his own incredibly popular YT channel, Doctor Willie Ong, with 6.5 million subscribers, and had a show on DZRH, Docs on Call, from 2009-17. He ran for Senate in 2018 under the Christian/Islamic Democratic Lakas-CMD party but only came in 18th. He still has quite a following though, which is why Moreno chose him as his running mate.
Moreno's plans include fast-tracking COVID vaccines nationwide, continuing Duterte's wildly successful Build! Build! Build! Programme for infrastructure, lifting the block on ABS-CBN's franchise renewal, something started by Duterte's attempts to kill off the popular TV network over alleged anti-Duterte reporting, and championing "Competence over Connections" in a bid to end divisive politics.
Moreno's second with 12%.
As for politics, he started fairly early here, being elected a Manila City Councillor in 1998, undertaking his college studies while serving his constituents, eventually getting a BA from the International Academy of Management and Economics in Makati. When his three-term limit was up, Moreno ran for Vice Mayor in 2007 for the local Asenso Manileño party. He won, but his running mate came in second place against Liberal former Senator and previous Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. He would be re-elected as a Liberal alongside Lim in 2010. In 2013, he was again re-elected, this time under the PMP of former President and film star Joseph Estrada. He had between elections jumped ship to the Nacionalistas, and would now work with the UNA as well, a PMP-PDP-Laban electoral coalition.
He was arrested in February 2013 alongside other councillors for hosting an illegal bingo game in a public place, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, and some claim that the charges were politically motivated by Alfredo Lim. In September 2014, five barangay(effectively neighbourhood/community council)chairs filed plunder charges against Moreno, claiming he had pocketed ₱70 million(US$1.6 million) in property taxes for himself, a charge he dismissed as political again since the barangay that was being "plundered" consisted entirely of the infamous landfill "Smokey Mountain" and dispersing funds from unpopulated barangays was perfectly legal. He ran for Senate in 2015 but ended up 16th. He would later take up low-level but important position in the Duterte administration in 2017(Chair of NorthRail) and 2018(an Undersecretary for Luzon Affairs in the Social Welfare and Development Department). In 2019, he was elected Mayor of Manila, a post he still holds today. He's a popular mayor for his handling of the pandemic, providing monthly student, senior, single-parent, and disability allowances to city residents, and his restoration and construction of public works.
As for his running mate, Willie Ong is a Chinese-Filipino cardiologist who has written several health-related books. He had his own health-related TV show on RJTV in 2005, and was a volunteer on Salamat Dok on ABS-CBN for 10 years. He left that show in 2018 to pursue politics, something he writes about in several newspaper columns. He also has his own incredibly popular YT channel, Doctor Willie Ong, with 6.5 million subscribers, and had a show on DZRH, Docs on Call, from 2009-17. He ran for Senate in 2018 under the Christian/Islamic Democratic Lakas-CMD party but only came in 18th. He still has quite a following though, which is why Moreno chose him as his running mate.
Moreno's plans include fast-tracking COVID vaccines nationwide, continuing Duterte's wildly successful Build! Build! Build! Programme for infrastructure, lifting the block on ABS-CBN's franchise renewal, something started by Duterte's attempts to kill off the popular TV network over alleged anti-Duterte reporting, and championing "Competence over Connections" in a bid to end divisive politics.
Moreno's second with 12%.
Manny Pacquiao and Lito Atienza -Probinsya Muna Development Initiative(PROMDI), a splinter group of PDP-Laban: Centre
Fortunately, most of you already know who Manny Pacquiao is, so I don't need to go too far with a profile. But, if like me, you aren't into sportsball, I will say that he is one of the greatest professional boxers alive today. He fought for 26 years before retiring this past September. He also played professional basketball for the PBA Kia Sorrentos(PBA teams are named for the companies that own them) for four years before retiring in 2018. Amidst all this, he's had a storied political career as well. He ran for the House in 2007 for KAMPI(now part of Lakas-CMD) in South Cotabato but lost. He tried again in 2010 under his own People's Champ Movement(affiliated with PDP-Labas) and won a seat in Sarangani from the locally powerful Chiongbian family and was reelected unopposed in 2013. His boxing career, however, tended to take precedence to the point that he only attended a single session in the 16th (2013-16)Congress. Even so, he ran for the Senate in 2016 for the UNA. He came in 7th, thus winning a seat.
He was initially a diehard supported of Duterte, opposed attempts to investigate or prosecute members of his death squads both in Davao City and nationally, and shares Duterte's less-than-acceptant views on homosexuality. Although his attendance record has improved, he's still got the worst record of any incumbent Senator. In December 2020, Pacquiao became Acting President of PDP-Laban...and that's when the party began to break.
As it looked increasingly likely that Pacquiao might become Duterte's successor, he became more openly critical of his boss for being too corrupt and soft on China. Duterte and Pacquiao now have considerable bad blood between them, which culminated in the Pacquiao Faction and the Cosi Faction, named after Alfonso Cusi, effectively sacking each other Orthodox Schism style with both claiming to be Party President. The Cosi Faction also has their own candidate, which we'll get to next.
Meanwhile, Lito Atienza has spent most of his 80 years in political spheres. He organised a youth movement supporting the Liberals in 1968 and is a survivor of the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing that served as the catalyst for Marcos to get into power. He hated Marcos and was imprisoned twice for criticising the regime in the 70s, during which time he served under the stewardship of then-Mayor of Manila Ramon Bagatsing. Even so, he was elected to the Natasang Pambansa during its short stormy tenure until its dissolution by Corazon Aquino. Aquino placed him in charge of the National Housing Authority for four years before running for Mayor alongside Alfredo Lim for Deputy in 1992 under the People's Reform Party. After serving two terms together, and with Lim launching an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in 1998, Atienza was elected Mayor as a Liberal and served the full three terms. His tenure was controversial, however, as he oversaw the demolition of many historic buildings and forest parks, to such an extent that was nicknamed "The Butcher of Arroceros" in 2003. When he retired from that in 2007, one of his sons ran for the Mayoralty and lost to Lim.
That same year, the Supreme Court, ruling on a dispute that dated back to 2006, agreed with the Liberal Party that Atienza was not elected thanks to a provision that allowed the then-president's term to be extended. Accordingly, he washed his hands of the Liberals and joined Lakas-CMD. He was then named, ironically given his record, Environment Secretary in Former President Gloria Arroyo's cabinet for two years. He hopped between parties twice more before being elected to the House on the list seats from the Catholic Right Wing Buhay Party in 2013. He became Deputy House Speaker in December 2020.
For policies, Pacquiao's plan include jailing corrupt officials, providing housing to 1.9 million poor families, a re-instatement of the death penalty, wants to reassess the country's close ties to Beijing, and calls for wage increases.
Pacquiao is currently averaging 8.7%.
He was initially a diehard supported of Duterte, opposed attempts to investigate or prosecute members of his death squads both in Davao City and nationally, and shares Duterte's less-than-acceptant views on homosexuality. Although his attendance record has improved, he's still got the worst record of any incumbent Senator. In December 2020, Pacquiao became Acting President of PDP-Laban...and that's when the party began to break.
As it looked increasingly likely that Pacquiao might become Duterte's successor, he became more openly critical of his boss for being too corrupt and soft on China. Duterte and Pacquiao now have considerable bad blood between them, which culminated in the Pacquiao Faction and the Cosi Faction, named after Alfonso Cusi, effectively sacking each other Orthodox Schism style with both claiming to be Party President. The Cosi Faction also has their own candidate, which we'll get to next.
Meanwhile, Lito Atienza has spent most of his 80 years in political spheres. He organised a youth movement supporting the Liberals in 1968 and is a survivor of the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing that served as the catalyst for Marcos to get into power. He hated Marcos and was imprisoned twice for criticising the regime in the 70s, during which time he served under the stewardship of then-Mayor of Manila Ramon Bagatsing. Even so, he was elected to the Natasang Pambansa during its short stormy tenure until its dissolution by Corazon Aquino. Aquino placed him in charge of the National Housing Authority for four years before running for Mayor alongside Alfredo Lim for Deputy in 1992 under the People's Reform Party. After serving two terms together, and with Lim launching an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in 1998, Atienza was elected Mayor as a Liberal and served the full three terms. His tenure was controversial, however, as he oversaw the demolition of many historic buildings and forest parks, to such an extent that was nicknamed "The Butcher of Arroceros" in 2003. When he retired from that in 2007, one of his sons ran for the Mayoralty and lost to Lim.
That same year, the Supreme Court, ruling on a dispute that dated back to 2006, agreed with the Liberal Party that Atienza was not elected thanks to a provision that allowed the then-president's term to be extended. Accordingly, he washed his hands of the Liberals and joined Lakas-CMD. He was then named, ironically given his record, Environment Secretary in Former President Gloria Arroyo's cabinet for two years. He hopped between parties twice more before being elected to the House on the list seats from the Catholic Right Wing Buhay Party in 2013. He became Deputy House Speaker in December 2020.
For policies, Pacquiao's plan include jailing corrupt officials, providing housing to 1.9 million poor families, a re-instatement of the death penalty, wants to reassess the country's close ties to Beijing, and calls for wage increases.
Pacquiao is currently averaging 8.7%.
Leni Robredo and Francis Pangilinan - Independent and Liberal Party: Centre to Centre-left
As Leni Gerona, she graduated from UP-Dillman in 1986 with an economics degree and from the University of Nueva Caceres with a law degree in 1992, passing the bar in 1997. She married Jesse Robredo, future Mayor of Naga,Camarines Sur, in 1987, he died in 2012. Around the time of her marriage, the People's Power Revolution had unseated Marcos, and she got interested in politics, joining a regional development programme in the Bicol Region. She would later start an organisation to bring opportunities for women around the Naga area. In 1997, she joined the Naga Public Attorney's Office for a year, then moved on to SALIGAN, an alternative legal support group that also provides rural women with access to capital for small businesses.
By 2012, she was Liberal Party Provincial Chair for Camarines Sur and was elected to the House the following year. During her tenure, she 'championed increased transparency and citizen involvement, authored broad anti-discrimination measures for all people, supported the Bangsamoro Basic Law that created the autonomous region, and authored the graphic tobacco warnings law and a Freedom of Information Act among other things. Come 2016, she surprised Duterte by winning the Vice Presidency over his preferred candidate Alan Cayetano. As VP, she's been at constant loggerheads with the President, almost never in agreement over anything and wholeheartedly condemning most of his more brutal measures. Robredo became President of the Liberal Party in August of this year, but she chose to run as an Independent with Liberal support.
The former party president is her running mate. Francis Pangilinan started as a student activist against Marcos. He would become Chair of the UP Student Council and its first Student Representative to the Board of Regents after the People's Power Revolution. He would graduate with a Bachelor's in Law and became a lawyer. In 1988, at age 25, he would become a City Councillor in Quezon City. At the same time, he hosted or co-hosted several news and legal programmes on ABS-CBN TV and several radio stations. He also founded several youth political organisations. He ran for the House in 1992 but lost. He then moved on to teaching in 1993 at the Ateneo de Manila University, until 2000, taking an 18-month break in the midst of it to study at Harvard's Kennedy School. In 2001, he ran for Senate, this time winning by coming in 8th. He would serve as Majority Leader from 2004-08, and would leave the Senate in 2013. In 2014, he joined Bengino Aquino III's cabinet as Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernisation, serving there for 16 months. He became Liberal Party President in 2016 and returned to the Senate the same year.
Robredo is currently averaging 8%.
By 2012, she was Liberal Party Provincial Chair for Camarines Sur and was elected to the House the following year. During her tenure, she 'championed increased transparency and citizen involvement, authored broad anti-discrimination measures for all people, supported the Bangsamoro Basic Law that created the autonomous region, and authored the graphic tobacco warnings law and a Freedom of Information Act among other things. Come 2016, she surprised Duterte by winning the Vice Presidency over his preferred candidate Alan Cayetano. As VP, she's been at constant loggerheads with the President, almost never in agreement over anything and wholeheartedly condemning most of his more brutal measures. Robredo became President of the Liberal Party in August of this year, but she chose to run as an Independent with Liberal support.
The former party president is her running mate. Francis Pangilinan started as a student activist against Marcos. He would become Chair of the UP Student Council and its first Student Representative to the Board of Regents after the People's Power Revolution. He would graduate with a Bachelor's in Law and became a lawyer. In 1988, at age 25, he would become a City Councillor in Quezon City. At the same time, he hosted or co-hosted several news and legal programmes on ABS-CBN TV and several radio stations. He also founded several youth political organisations. He ran for the House in 1992 but lost. He then moved on to teaching in 1993 at the Ateneo de Manila University, until 2000, taking an 18-month break in the midst of it to study at Harvard's Kennedy School. In 2001, he ran for Senate, this time winning by coming in 8th. He would serve as Majority Leader from 2004-08, and would leave the Senate in 2013. In 2014, he joined Bengino Aquino III's cabinet as Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernisation, serving there for 16 months. He became Liberal Party President in 2016 and returned to the Senate the same year.
Robredo is currently averaging 8%.
Panfilo Lacson and Tito Sotto - Reform Party(Reporma) and the Nationalist People's Coalition(NPC): Centre-right
Panfilo Lacson grew up the son of a market stall vendor, and he was raised with a very strict sense of discipline. He first studied for an engineering degree, and then went into the Philippine Military Academy in 1967. After graduation there, he joined the Philippine Constabulary, the forerunner to the PNP. As he rose through the ranks, he became known for his no-take policies, ensuring the cops on his watch never took gratuities. He also led anti-carnapping and anti-gambling squads as well as serving as Commander of Isabela from 1986-89 and of Cebu City from 1989-92. By 1996, he was serving in President Joseph Estrada's administration, continuing his war on crime.
In 1999, Estrada made him PNP Chief, and many Filipinos and Filipinas consider his tenure the most honest in the history of the nation's police. He all but eliminated police bribery, redistributed financial resources towards frontline cops, and imposed a strict physical fitness test with an even stricter 34-inch waist requirement. He wasn't completely clean, however, and he does have some black marks on his record such as the Kuratong Balelang affair, where police gunned down 11 members of the eponymous gang in 1995. He would be exonerated, however, in the 2000 Dacer-Corbito Case, where senior police offices were found to have killed a publicist and his driver. It later turned out that the person who blamed Lacson for authorising the killing had lied and was forced to make the accusation by Gloria Arroyo's administration, but Lacson had in the meantime fled the country in 2010-11 to the point where Interpol was looking for him.
In the meantime, Lacson was co-leader of mass protests against the Arroyo Administration in 2001 alongside Miriam Defensor Santiago and Tito Sotto. That same year, he ran for Senate for the centre-right LDP, he got 10th and elected. His main theme as a Senator was and has been against corruption and waste. He's one of only two Senators in history to forgo his annual pork barrel allocations and calls for them to be removed entirely. He ran for President in 2004 as an independent and got 3rd. After Super Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the Visayas in 2013, President Bengino Aquino III appointed him to be Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery. He didn't stay long, forming a plan and then resigning and suggesting it be moved to a permanent agency that could oversee funding. He ran for Senate again in 2016 and got 4th overall. He was the first major candidate to declare a presidential bid alongside his running mate on September 8.
As for Sotto, he's a big name in the Philippines in several respects. His grandfather and great-uncle were both Senators in both the American-controlled Commonwealth and the original Republic, and his great-uncle also helped draft the 1935 Constitution. He himself and his brothers are also masters of the stage and screen. He started a Dave Clark Five cover band in 1965 before becoming an executive at Vicor Music. He was the vocalist for a short-lived band called Bluejeans in 1977, and would found Manila Sound giants VST & Company, which would become world-famous for the song Magkaisa, a People's Power Anthem. From 1979-92, he was a co-host on variety show Eat Bulaga! and still makes special guest appearances there today. He's done a lot of film and television work besides.
As for politics, he started as Vice Mayor of Quezon City from 1988-92, and he was also an anti-drug crusader. He was elected to the Senate in 1st place in 1992, was re-elected in 1998, and served as Majority Leader starting in 2002. Alongside Lacson, he stormed Malacañang Palace, the Presidential Home and source for the thread title(the name means either king's house or fisherman's house) in the 2001 protests. He would run for the Senate again in 2007 after a three-year break but lose. In 2008, Arroyo made him Chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board just one day after the defeat prohibition expired(Philippine law forbids defeated candidates for office from being appointed to anything within a year). He served for just over a year and then ran for Senate again in 2010, this time winning a seat. He became Senate President in 2018, and still holds the position today.
He isn't exactly clean though. Back in 1982, he's believed to have used his influence to get his brother off of a rape charge against a woman named Pepsi Paloma by making Paloma sign an affidavit to drop the charges in exchange for an apology. Paloma claimed he had a gun on the table while talking to her, and she committed suicide three years later. Then too, he's been accused of plagiarism on numerous occasions during his time in the Senate.
Lacson is currently averaging 3.65%, and Sotto's averaging 12.5% but lead with 25% in the most recent poll from September.
In 1999, Estrada made him PNP Chief, and many Filipinos and Filipinas consider his tenure the most honest in the history of the nation's police. He all but eliminated police bribery, redistributed financial resources towards frontline cops, and imposed a strict physical fitness test with an even stricter 34-inch waist requirement. He wasn't completely clean, however, and he does have some black marks on his record such as the Kuratong Balelang affair, where police gunned down 11 members of the eponymous gang in 1995. He would be exonerated, however, in the 2000 Dacer-Corbito Case, where senior police offices were found to have killed a publicist and his driver. It later turned out that the person who blamed Lacson for authorising the killing had lied and was forced to make the accusation by Gloria Arroyo's administration, but Lacson had in the meantime fled the country in 2010-11 to the point where Interpol was looking for him.
In the meantime, Lacson was co-leader of mass protests against the Arroyo Administration in 2001 alongside Miriam Defensor Santiago and Tito Sotto. That same year, he ran for Senate for the centre-right LDP, he got 10th and elected. His main theme as a Senator was and has been against corruption and waste. He's one of only two Senators in history to forgo his annual pork barrel allocations and calls for them to be removed entirely. He ran for President in 2004 as an independent and got 3rd. After Super Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the Visayas in 2013, President Bengino Aquino III appointed him to be Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery. He didn't stay long, forming a plan and then resigning and suggesting it be moved to a permanent agency that could oversee funding. He ran for Senate again in 2016 and got 4th overall. He was the first major candidate to declare a presidential bid alongside his running mate on September 8.
As for Sotto, he's a big name in the Philippines in several respects. His grandfather and great-uncle were both Senators in both the American-controlled Commonwealth and the original Republic, and his great-uncle also helped draft the 1935 Constitution. He himself and his brothers are also masters of the stage and screen. He started a Dave Clark Five cover band in 1965 before becoming an executive at Vicor Music. He was the vocalist for a short-lived band called Bluejeans in 1977, and would found Manila Sound giants VST & Company, which would become world-famous for the song Magkaisa, a People's Power Anthem. From 1979-92, he was a co-host on variety show Eat Bulaga! and still makes special guest appearances there today. He's done a lot of film and television work besides.
As for politics, he started as Vice Mayor of Quezon City from 1988-92, and he was also an anti-drug crusader. He was elected to the Senate in 1st place in 1992, was re-elected in 1998, and served as Majority Leader starting in 2002. Alongside Lacson, he stormed Malacañang Palace, the Presidential Home and source for the thread title(the name means either king's house or fisherman's house) in the 2001 protests. He would run for the Senate again in 2007 after a three-year break but lose. In 2008, Arroyo made him Chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board just one day after the defeat prohibition expired(Philippine law forbids defeated candidates for office from being appointed to anything within a year). He served for just over a year and then ran for Senate again in 2010, this time winning a seat. He became Senate President in 2018, and still holds the position today.
He isn't exactly clean though. Back in 1982, he's believed to have used his influence to get his brother off of a rape charge against a woman named Pepsi Paloma by making Paloma sign an affidavit to drop the charges in exchange for an apology. Paloma claimed he had a gun on the table while talking to her, and she committed suicide three years later. Then too, he's been accused of plagiarism on numerous occasions during his time in the Senate.
Lacson is currently averaging 3.65%, and Sotto's averaging 12.5% but lead with 25% in the most recent poll from September.
Ernesto Abella and TBD - Independent: Unknown
Abella is also from Davao City, so it's no surprise that he would eventually be a Duterte Disciple. He's also a Christian disciple, founding charismatic evangelical ministries and a preacher from 1990-96, when he was kidnapped by militants and released after then-Mayor Duterte negotiated his release. His first career was in advertising, but he left after just two years and became a newspaper columnist in 1977 before taking up the cloth. By 2002, he was back to secular life and became an agri-business executive. After the 2016 election, Duterte made him official Malacañang Palace press spokesman, which he served for over a year before moving to the FOreign Affairs Ministry for a similar job. Now, he is running for President and has no preferred VP as of yet,
He has not yet been polled.
He has not yet been polled.
Ka Leody De Guzman and Walden Bello - Strength of the People Party(PLM): Left to Far Left
Leodigario De Guzman started life working class. He worked in a leather gloves factory in his hometown of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, to pay his way through college and ended up with a Bachelor's in Science in Customs Administration. After Bengino Aquino Jr's assassination and the rise of Marcos, he became a political and labour activist, organising his fellow assembly line haberdashers into a union and leading the factory's local JAJA(Justice for Aquino, Justice for All) chapter. In 1984, he became an organiser for ALMAPAS for six years before moving on to the more militant KMU in 1990. After three years and numerous disagreements between KMU's leadership and its rank and file, De Guzman jumped ship and helped form a new labour federation, the BMP. He would serve as deputy secretary-general until 1996, then as secretary-general for nine years, then as BMP President until 2018, and now serves as BMP Chairman.
De Guzman is also on the boards of two NGOs, the human rights group PhilRights and the disaster relief group Bulig Visayas. He's also the nation's representative of International Centre for Labour Solidarity and serves as VP of the Asia Regional Organisation of Bank, Insurance, and Finance Unions. Politically speaking, he's in favour of what he calls "system change", denouncing both Duterte for being dictatorial and Robredo and the Liberals as out of touch elitists. Back in 2000-01, during President Joseph Estrada's impeachment and the resulting People Power 2(Or EDSA 2), he wanted all officials to resign to bring the change the Philippines needed. As it was, Gloria Arroyo became President, and many of De Guzman's friends and colleagues literally found themselves in the crosshairs of her activist purges, including fellow BMP founder Filemon Lagman. De Guzman ran for the House List seats under the Sanlakas party in 2016 and lost, then ran for the Labor Win Coalition under the PLM(the first time in many years that all the unions set up a unified campaign) for a Senate seat in 2019 and ended up 38th(talk about a loss). Earlier this year, he attempted to contact Robredo about a possible unity ticket to unseat Duterte or whomever would take his place, but Robredo rebuffed him and ran for President herself. So, De Guzman decided to run himself after being nominated by the LNM Coalition.
As for his running mate, Walden Bello started life opposite De Guzman in many respects before becoming arugably an even bigger Left Wing activist. He grew up well off, had his schooling at both Ateneo de Manila and later at Princeton paid by his parents, and embraced activism after seeing the Anti-War movement over Vietnam. He led an occupation of the Woodrow Wilson Centre and clashed with police. He then went down to Chile and witnessed the rise of Salvador Allende's administration through the nation's shanty towns. In September 1972, he went back to Princeton for his dissertation defence...and his activism had already found its way back home, leading to Ferdinand Marcos exiling him from the country.
Consequently, he began teaching at UC-Berkeley and joined the Communist Party of the Philippines(CPP) in exile. He's been arrested during protests multiple times, most notably in 1978 when he led the seizure of the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. At his trial, he and his comrades cursed out the judge, refused to recognise the court's authority, and walked out of the court. They were all sent to a county jail, where he went on hunger strike and ultimately forced the government to release him as his example made a prison riot imminent. In the early 1980s, he disrupted a concert at the Kennedy Centre that Imelda Marcos was attending. Around the same time, he broke into the World Bank offices, stole over 3,000 pages of documents, and published them in a now famous(at least in the Philippines)1982 tell-all book that showed Marcos' connections to the IMF. When the People Power Revolution came about, it was Bello who led the takeover of the Philippine embassy in Washington and personally saw that the ambassador and diplomats were expelled. He finally returned home in 1988.
As the 1990s marched on, Bello abandoned the Communists after he learned that they killed suspected double agents, moving to the Akbayan Citizens' Action Party. He founded Focus on the Global South in 1995 and now sits on multiple boards for left wing groups including the Philippine section of Greenpeace. He also continues to take part in demonstrations against globalism. He was elected to the House in 2007 for a list seat, and would become the first(and so far only) Congressman to resign in Pinoy history in 2015 after worsening disagreements with the Benny Aquino Administration and disagreements over the mishandling of Oplan Exodus AKA the Mamasapano Incident, a shootout between PNP Special Actions Forces and Islamic terrorists of the Moro and Bandasmoro Islamic groups that resulted in 65-70 dead(sources differ). He ran for the Senate in 2016 but ended up 36th. During his time in the House, he famously changed the name of the South China Sea to the West Philippine Sea in defiance of China. He also authored a lot of social reforms.
Policy wise, De Guzman and Bello wish to decriminalise abortion, legalise divorce(The Philippines is the only nation besides the Vatican that still bans it), ban contractualisation(a practice that allows companies to hire people for less than six months without penalties), impose a wealth tax for all assets over ₱100 million(US$2 million), cancel all debt repayments for five years, pull out of the Mutual Defence Treaty with the US and close all US bases, expand direct democracy by instituting referenda for all fundamental legislative proposals, seize the Marcos family's wealth, increase the minimum wage to ₱750 a day(US$15 a day, cost of living's a lot lower, keep that in mind), institute a ₱2000($40) monthly food subsidy and ₱3000($60) health subsidy, prosecute Duterte, remove Marcos from the Cemetery of Heroes, repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act 2020, resume peace talks with the CPP, demand climate reparations from the First and Second Worlds, legalise LGBTQ+ gender categories, and impose price control on oil.
De Guzman is currently polling at 3.25%.
De Guzman is also on the boards of two NGOs, the human rights group PhilRights and the disaster relief group Bulig Visayas. He's also the nation's representative of International Centre for Labour Solidarity and serves as VP of the Asia Regional Organisation of Bank, Insurance, and Finance Unions. Politically speaking, he's in favour of what he calls "system change", denouncing both Duterte for being dictatorial and Robredo and the Liberals as out of touch elitists. Back in 2000-01, during President Joseph Estrada's impeachment and the resulting People Power 2(Or EDSA 2), he wanted all officials to resign to bring the change the Philippines needed. As it was, Gloria Arroyo became President, and many of De Guzman's friends and colleagues literally found themselves in the crosshairs of her activist purges, including fellow BMP founder Filemon Lagman. De Guzman ran for the House List seats under the Sanlakas party in 2016 and lost, then ran for the Labor Win Coalition under the PLM(the first time in many years that all the unions set up a unified campaign) for a Senate seat in 2019 and ended up 38th(talk about a loss). Earlier this year, he attempted to contact Robredo about a possible unity ticket to unseat Duterte or whomever would take his place, but Robredo rebuffed him and ran for President herself. So, De Guzman decided to run himself after being nominated by the LNM Coalition.
As for his running mate, Walden Bello started life opposite De Guzman in many respects before becoming arugably an even bigger Left Wing activist. He grew up well off, had his schooling at both Ateneo de Manila and later at Princeton paid by his parents, and embraced activism after seeing the Anti-War movement over Vietnam. He led an occupation of the Woodrow Wilson Centre and clashed with police. He then went down to Chile and witnessed the rise of Salvador Allende's administration through the nation's shanty towns. In September 1972, he went back to Princeton for his dissertation defence...and his activism had already found its way back home, leading to Ferdinand Marcos exiling him from the country.
Consequently, he began teaching at UC-Berkeley and joined the Communist Party of the Philippines(CPP) in exile. He's been arrested during protests multiple times, most notably in 1978 when he led the seizure of the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. At his trial, he and his comrades cursed out the judge, refused to recognise the court's authority, and walked out of the court. They were all sent to a county jail, where he went on hunger strike and ultimately forced the government to release him as his example made a prison riot imminent. In the early 1980s, he disrupted a concert at the Kennedy Centre that Imelda Marcos was attending. Around the same time, he broke into the World Bank offices, stole over 3,000 pages of documents, and published them in a now famous(at least in the Philippines)1982 tell-all book that showed Marcos' connections to the IMF. When the People Power Revolution came about, it was Bello who led the takeover of the Philippine embassy in Washington and personally saw that the ambassador and diplomats were expelled. He finally returned home in 1988.
As the 1990s marched on, Bello abandoned the Communists after he learned that they killed suspected double agents, moving to the Akbayan Citizens' Action Party. He founded Focus on the Global South in 1995 and now sits on multiple boards for left wing groups including the Philippine section of Greenpeace. He also continues to take part in demonstrations against globalism. He was elected to the House in 2007 for a list seat, and would become the first(and so far only) Congressman to resign in Pinoy history in 2015 after worsening disagreements with the Benny Aquino Administration and disagreements over the mishandling of Oplan Exodus AKA the Mamasapano Incident, a shootout between PNP Special Actions Forces and Islamic terrorists of the Moro and Bandasmoro Islamic groups that resulted in 65-70 dead(sources differ). He ran for the Senate in 2016 but ended up 36th. During his time in the House, he famously changed the name of the South China Sea to the West Philippine Sea in defiance of China. He also authored a lot of social reforms.
Policy wise, De Guzman and Bello wish to decriminalise abortion, legalise divorce(The Philippines is the only nation besides the Vatican that still bans it), ban contractualisation(a practice that allows companies to hire people for less than six months without penalties), impose a wealth tax for all assets over ₱100 million(US$2 million), cancel all debt repayments for five years, pull out of the Mutual Defence Treaty with the US and close all US bases, expand direct democracy by instituting referenda for all fundamental legislative proposals, seize the Marcos family's wealth, increase the minimum wage to ₱750 a day(US$15 a day, cost of living's a lot lower, keep that in mind), institute a ₱2000($40) monthly food subsidy and ₱3000($60) health subsidy, prosecute Duterte, remove Marcos from the Cemetery of Heroes, repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act 2020, resume peace talks with the CPP, demand climate reparations from the First and Second Worlds, legalise LGBTQ+ gender categories, and impose price control on oil.
De Guzman is currently polling at 3.25%.
So, after reading all of these profiles and seeing the strange trip that is Pinoy Politics, what say you, NSG? What's your choice?
Now that I've properly updated the OP, I'd say De Guzman myself. I'm not normally one for near-Communist candidates, but De Guzman's got a good plan for the country.
