Senatorial jockeying

Except for a few remaining pending administration bills in various stages of the legislative mills at the 17th Congress, leaders of the party in power have started gearing up for the May 2019 midterm elections. For starters, the leaders of the ruling Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) have commissioned surveys to determine who among their candidates can make it in the tight race at the Senate.

At least seven of those running in 2019 are re-electionists. They are Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III (PDP-Laban) and Senators Cynthia Villar (NP), Grace Poe (independent), Nancy Binay (UNA), Sonny Angara (LDP), Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito (PMP) and Bam Aquino (LP).

Those who will be drafted in the administration’s Senate slate will have an edge as President Rodrigo Duterte will back their individual bids. That is, if the President – as the nominal party chief of the PDP-Laban – remains popular with two-digit approval ratings by the time of the election period.

Pimentel earlier said he would ask Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to be the national campaign manager for the administration’s Senate slate. Their battle cry, Pimentel vowed, would be “12-0” or a clean sweep of President Duterte’s ticket in the senatorial race.

However, it will be a tough task for the PDP-Laban leadership as Pimentel and Alvarez, party president and secretary general, respectively are also running in the 2019 midterm polls.

Last Oct. 6, Pimentel revealed the initial six senatorial candidates of the ruling party. Aside from him, Pimentel named the five other possible candidates of the PDP-Laban as Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Albee Benitez, Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman, Davao City 1st District Rep. Karlo Nograles, former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.

Tolentino ran as an independent candidate in the 2016 senatorial race but placed 13th, or outside the winning magic 12. He was appointed by President Duterte as his presidential political adviser.

Tolentino has a pending poll protest against 12th placer Sen. Leila de Lima before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).

If the other re-electionist senators will join the ruling party, Pimentel said they would be given priority in the administration’s Senate slate.

He said Ejercito might join them under a coalition of the PDP-Laban-Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) party of former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

On Nov. 17, Alvarez announced in Cebu that only members of the PDP-Laban and Nacionalista Party (NP) would be accepted in the administration’s senatorial slate.

Among the possible names Alvarez mentioned that he wants to be part of the PDP-Laban’s slate – Nograles, Tolentino, Roman and Benitez – are also in the list of the PDP-Laban president.

The two other preferred senatorial candidates of Alvarez are communications office assistant secretary Mocha Uson and former Kabayan party-list representative and now presidential spokesman Harry Roque.

Pimentel clarified that the party has yet to decide on the inclusion of Uson and Roque, adding that they could be considered as the “Speaker’s nominees.” 

Is rivalry brewing between the two PDP-Laban leaders this early?

But we saw them both attending the President’s ceremonial signing into law of the 2018 budget and the tax reform package.

Naturally, the two PDP-Laban leaders would only want the most winnable senatorial bets to represent the administration and other Duterte allies in the next 18th Congress. Thus, the PDP-Laban hired last month professional pollsters to get the sense of the Filipino voters who they would elect as senators in 2019.

One of the surveys done on Nov. 11-19 showed many unexpected early favorites. Poe leads the pack of those in the “magic 12” winning circle, with 58 percent probability of topping the Senate race. Coming in second is former senator Pia Cayetano who is currently representing the 2nd District of Taguig City.

Ranked third and fourth, respectively are Villar and former senator Jinggoy Estrada who had been released from detention after the Sandiganbayan allowed him to post P1.33 million bail. Estrada, like his half-brother Senator JV Ejercito, belongs to the PMP. Ejercito ranked solo at 9th place with 30 percent probability of winning.

Pimentel ranked 5th to 6th, along with Davao City Mayor Sara “Inday Sara” Duterte-Carpio. The President’s daughter along with Pimentel got a rating of 32 percent.

Re-electionist Senator Angara shared the 7th and 8th spots with former senator Lito Lapid, with 31 percent.

Unfortunately, the survey relied on “recall” of senatorial candidates. Lapid returned to showbiz after finishing his second and last term at the Senate in 2016. He is currently appearing at ABS-CBN’s daily telenovela, “Ang Probinsyano.” Lapid plays the role of “supremo” of the “Pulang Araw” rebel group in the drama series aired prime time. Now, we know why Filipino voters think Lapid wants to return to the Senate.

Another showbiz figure, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista ranked 10th to 12th place with 27 percent. Bautista is on his third and last term. He is rumored to be romantically linked with popular TV and movie star Kris Aquino, youngest sister of former president Benigno Aquino III.

Completing the 10th and 12th spots are Senator Binay and soon-to-retire Philippine National Police  chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. President Duterte earlier extended for another three months the tour of duty of the PNP chief, which was supposed to end in January next year.

The allies of President Duterte are indeed busy preparing this early for a full 12-man Senate ticket. Though happening quietly and behind closed-door meetings, the jockeying for the Senate race is on.