Villar, Poe, Lapid, Go ...

Villar, Poe, Lapid, Go file COCs for senator

Survey leaders re-electionist Senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe, and former senator Lito Lapid on Monday filed their certificates of candidacy at the Commission on Elections (Comelec)

head office in Intramuros, Manila.

Special Assistant to the President Bong Go also filed his COC on Monday. He was accompanied by President Duterte. The President sat quietly like a father accompanying a son at the Comelec as Go went through the filing process.

Villar said that the tagline “Mr Hanapbuhay” that she used when she ran in 2013 was not a mere campaign slogan but an advocacy.

Should she win in her re-election bid, Villar said that she will push the same advocacy.

“For me, it’s not a campaign line, it’s an advocacy. I will continue doing it because I think it’s good for our people,” Villar told the media after filing her COC.

“I’ve always worked for the building of livelihood projects, especially for our poor people. So, it’s an advocacy not a campaign line,” she added.

Asked if she regrets voting in favor of the TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) Law, Villar said it was a lesson learned.

“It’s not that I regret signing it. It’s just that the projection was bad. We were not able to consider that there will be those that will take advantage of it. It’s lesson learned,” she said.

Villar was the first to file COC on Monday. She was accompanied by her husband, former Senate President Manny Villar, donning their signature campaign color orange.

Poe, meanwhile, filed her COC as an independent candidate for the 2019 elections.

She was accompanied by her mother, veteran actress Susan Roces.

During a press briefing, Poe said that Department of Social and Welfare Development and Department of Transportation (DOTr) should be held accountable for the delay in the release of aid for those affected by the TRAIN Law under its social protection measures.

“We supported TRAIN Law because the President said the government needed funds. They said there will also be mitigating measures for the poor Filipinos but the problem is that they already collected the money but the ‘Pantulong na Pantawid’ is not yet distributed. If the aid will be distributed quickly, we are not as miserable now,” she said in Filipino.

As chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, Poe had conducted public hearings in the country to find out the effects of the TRAIN law.

On the other hand, Poe also hit the DOTr’s proposed modernization of jeepneys.

“With due respect to the DOTr secretary who claims we are against modernization, let’s make it equitable. We are for modernization, but let’s not forget to be inclusive. If we are modernizing, we should consider the welfare of jeepney drivers who do not have capital,” she said.

Lapid, meanwhile, did not deliver a speech after filing his COC.

Asked about his advocacies, he answered, “Itutuloy natin yung mgahindi natin natuloy.” (We will pursue what we failed to finish).

Lapid, formerly with the LakasKampi party, is now running under the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) party.

Lapid served as senator for two consecutive terms from 2004 to 2016.

Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito, accompanied by his wife and supporters, marched toward the Comelec main office to file his COC on Monday with one goal in mind: To win again as senator in the 2019 polls.

“That is the least of my concern. I am here to win,” Ejercito said when asked about his political rift with halfbrother Jinggoy Estrada, who is also running for senator.

Ejercito will be running under the Nationalist Peoples' Coalition (NPC) after leaving the Pwersang Masang Pilipino (PMP) party of his father, former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

The lawmaker cited differences in principles with some members of PMP as reason he left the party.