Former senators seek comeback | The Manila Times

FORMER senators seeking to return to the Senate filed their certificates of candidacy (CoCs) Monday, the second-to-the-last day for doing so.

Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, who served one term as senator from 2016-2022 before making an unsuccessful run for the presidency, is hoping to return to the Senate under an anti-corruption campaign.

Gringo Honasan will try to regain the Senate seat he vacated in 2018 after he was appointed as secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) during the Duterte administration.

One of the founders of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, or RAM, when he was an Army lieutenant colonel, Honasan led several coup attempts against the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, which eventually led to the 1986 People Power revolution that catapulted President Corazon Aquino, the country’s first woman president, to power. He would later launch several coup attempts against her, as well.

Former senator Gringo Honasan

He was first elected senator in 1995 after he was granted an amnesty by President Fidel V. Ramos.

Bam Aquino also filed his CoC on Monday in a bid to regain the Senate seat he lost in the 2019 midterm elections.

He said he learned a lot from the 2019 campaign and said this time it would be a different ball game.

Aquino said that he might be lagging in surveys but expressed belief that it will change in the coming months as he steps up his campaign through social media and support of volunteers across the country.

Aquino opted not to run in 2022 to focus on the presidential campaign of former vice president Leni Robredo, who lost.

Aquino has 19 laws under his belt. His first law — the Go Negosyo Act — supports Filipinos who want to start and grow their own businesses.

He is the principal author of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which made tuition and other miscellaneous expenses free in state universities and colleges, local universities and colleges, and Tesda.

Action star and Sen. Bong Revilla launched his reelection bid, running under the Lakas-NUCD, which is in coalition with the administration’s Alyansa ng Bagong Pilipinas.

If reelected, Revilla said that he would push for measures that would take care of the elderly, teachers, students and the people in the countryside.

After seven days of filing of CoCs for national positions (as of 5:30 p.m.), the Comelec registration center at the Tent City in Manila Hotel has so far tallied an initial total of 126 aspirants for senators and 127 for party-list organizations.

On the seventh day alone, 48 aspirant-candidates filed their CoC.

These included former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, former Interior secretary Benhur Abalos, and former Defense secretary Norberto Gonzales.

On the other hand, a total of 49 party-lists filed their certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) on the seventh day.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said that they were expecting an influx of last-minute filers on Tuesday.

Up for grabs in the 2025 national and local elections are 12 positions for senators, 254 district representatives, 63 party-list groups, 82 governors, 82 vice governors, 800 provincial council members, 149 city mayors, 149 city vice mayors, 1,682 city council members, 1,493 municipal mayors, 1,493 municipal vice mayors, 11,948 municipal council members, and 25 BARMM parliament members and 40 BARMM party-list representatives.

Superstar runs Nora Aunor was one of the unexpected candidates who showed up at the Commission on Elections on Monday. The former superstar is the second nominee of People’s Champ Party-list. She vowed to help those working in the entertainment industry if she wins. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN

The CoC filing will continue from November 4 to 9 for certain BARMM district representatives, particularly for the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Tawi-Tawi.

Garcia said that Comelec expects about 500,000 aspirants to vie for the 18,280 national and local positions that would be contested in next year’s polls.

Retired Marine Col. Ariel Querubin also filed his CoC for senator on Monday.

Querubin is a recipient of the Philippines’ highest military award for courage, the Medal of Valor, and is the most decorated soldier in the Philippines.

If elected, Querubin vowed to fight for the country’s territorial rights in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

After failing to get an accreditation from the Comelec as party-list group, chairman of transport group Manibela Mar Valbuena instead opted to run as senator in the 2025 polls.

“I don’t know why Comelec won’t accredit us as a party-list group. What happened to what we filed? They won’t give us even a copy of the resolution; there is no clear reason why they won’t allow us,” he added.

Running as senator, he said, is a tall order because he is pitted against moneyed politicians and prominent people in society.

“It’s a hard decision. It’s shooting for the moon. Our political opponents are billionaires, prominent names in society, but we will continue to fight for our advocacy. It is time for our voters to choose those who are truly willing to serve the people,” he said in Filipino and English.