Five House members entering senatorial race

MANILA, Philippines - Five members of the House of Representatives are joining the race for the Senate, including world boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao is expected to file his certificate of candidacy (COC) when he returns tomorrow from New York where he received the prestigious Game Changer Award for 2015.

Pacquiao, who is seen as a sure winner, earlier said he would have one last fight next year before retiring to focus on his duties in the Senate.

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez filed yesterday his COC as a senatorial candidate of the Lakas-Christian and Muslim Democrats, with the youth sector, calamity victims and persons with disabilities as the focus of his campaign.

Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian will file his candidacy for senator under the Nationalist People’s Coalition. He will be joined by reelectionist Sen. Vicente Sotto III, who is also from the NPC.

Gatchalian said he would focus on his advocacies on education, particularly institutionalizing college scholarship, youth empowerment and job generation.

Rep. Cresente Paez of the Coop-Natcco party-list will file his COC as one of the members of the administration coalition’s senatorial ticket.

Paez said he would join Liberal Party presidential bet Manuel Roxas II tomorrow to file their COCs.

“When I file, I might as well be with the boss,” Paez said in a telephone interview.

Rep. Samuel Pagdilao of the ACT-CIS party-list group filed his COC yesterday.

Pagdilao earlier told reporters that he has the backing of more than 40 party-list groups represented in the House.

He said his party-list group obtained 400,000 votes in the 2013 elections, and if he gets the support of the party-list coalition in the House, theoretically, he could have 16 million votes – the total votes of 58 party-list lawmakers – in his Senate run.