Roque, Eleazar File COCs For Senator In May 2022 Elections

Harry Roque stepped down as presidential spokesman on Monday, Nov. 15, to run for senator, but vowed to continue supporting President Duterte’s plans for next year’s polls.

At his last press briefing as Palace spokesman, Roque vowed to push for policies that would promote livelihood during the pandemic.

“Just because we have a pandemic, it doesn’t mean that we should lose our livelihood. We have to live with COVID,” Roque said.

“That is the reason why we will return to politics... From being your spokesman, I want to be an action man in the Senate,” he added.

After filing his certificate of candidacy (COC) at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office in Manila, Roque said he would continue to be an ally of both Duterte and his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is running for vice president.

“We will accompany not just Mayor Inday Sara. We will also be with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in the position he is running for,” the former Palace spokesman said in Filipino.

“My President and I will not be separated,” he added.

Roque, who failed to secure a seat in the International Law Commission, will run under the People’s Reform Party as a substitute for Paolo Mario Sarmiento Martileno.

A former lawmaker and law professor at the University of the Philippines, Roque was first appointed presidential spokesman in October 2017. He resigned in 2018 to run for senator but withdrew because of a heart ailment. He was reappointed as Duterte’s spokesman last year.

Meanwhile, newly retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Guillermo Eleazar said he asked for the blessing of Duterte, through Sen. Bong Go, when he decided to run for senator.

“I asked for his consent and he (Go) said ‘yes, go ahead’ and that it was my right (to run for senator),” Eleazar disclosed.

He stressed that he was also grateful to the President and the entire government because he was given the opportunity to serve the people.

The 56-year-old former police general would be under the ticket of presidential aspirant Sen. Ping Lacson and his running mate Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Eleazar is a substitute for Paolo Capino, who withdrew his COC for senator on Nov. 12 under the Partido para sa Demokratikong Reporma (PDR) that is chaired by Lacson. Eleazar officially joined the party on Sunday, Nov. 14, while Lacson, Sotto and other senatorial candidates were in San Fernando City, Pampanga.

Eleazar was accompanied by his wife, Rosalie, when he filed his COC at the Comelec main office.

He explained that he decided to run under the tandem of Lacson and Sotto because it was Lacson who first invited him to join their senatorial lineup.

He also believed that Lacson saw his potential and knew he would be able to help him in his advocacy since they both served as PNP chief.

Eleazar said his decision to run for a Senate seat was finalized after he got the approval of his entire family.

Asked why he decided to run, Eleazar said he wants to help and continue serving his fellow Filipinos. “It all boils down into the deep connection between the real motivation and the capability to deliver from that motivation.”

The former police chief admitted that his candidacy would be a “difficult journey” as he is “totally new on this field” and “nothing worth having comes easy.”

He cited “personal experiences” that made him realize the direct relationship between peace and order and social problems when he was still a young police investigator.

According to Eleazar, his accomplishments in the past six months as PNP chief alone “speaks volumes” when it comes to his capability” to deliver as a senator if elected.

Eleazar assumed the top post in the police leadership on May 7. He was the sixth PNP chief appointed by the President.

During his stint, Eleazar immediately launched the intensified cleanliness policy, strengthened the disciplinary mechanisms, and instituted the faceless and nameless QR code system in the recruitment to put an end to the padrino system or having backer to get into PNP.

For transparency and accountability, he also facilitated the release of the body-worn cameras and coordinated with the Supreme Court to come up with the guidelines on how to use them by the police on the ground.

As a police officer for 34 years, Eleazar bared that he would push for legislative agenda that would cater both the peace and order and economic development of the country.

In 1983, Eleazar, a native of Tagkawayan, Quezon, entered the Philippine Military Academy. He graduated cum laude in 1987 and ranked fourth among the graduates.

Eleazar served as chief of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, the Quezon City Police District, the Police Regional Office 4-A to the National Capital Regional Police Office and eventually the entire police organization.

Meanwhile, the Moro Ako OK Partylist went to the Comelec head office on Monday to change the names of their nominees.

Their original nominees Ahmad Jallod Lucman Taib, Alisaid Baulo Said, Amenuddin Unte Macaurog, Hanif Macaunte and Hamdani Darol were substituted by new nominees Najeeb Lucman Taib, Ahmad Lagman Barcelon, Abdul Barie Said Marcom, Sitti Ashma Sabal Ambulong and Saaduden Mimbantas Macadato.

Victorino Garay, president of the Bisaya Gyun Partylist, also filed for withdrawal and substitution of four of their nominees.

Loreto Tenolete Jr. also withdrew his candidacy for senator. He filed his COC last Oct. 8. He would be substituted by Joseph Jocson who withdrew his nomination as party-list representative in order to run for senator.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said there is no limit to the number of times a political aspirant could substitute for another aspirant.

The question was posed to Jimenez amid the possibility that Duterte-Carpio, who filed her COC for vice president last Saturday, Nov. 13, might substitute for someone who earlier filed a COC for president.

Jimenez confirmed that while it has never been attempted by a political candidate before to make more than one substitution, he clarified that there was no limit to substitution.

He also stressed that independent candidates have no right of substitution, and those who have previously filed their COC as independent bets cannot be substituted.

Staying ’til the end

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has junked plans to run for senator and opted to stay at the helm of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) until the end of the Duterte presidency.

At a virtual briefing, Bello sought the understanding of his friends and supporters for his decision not to run in the coming May 2022 senatorial race.

“I find it more urgent to address the needs of our workers,” Bello explained on why he decided not to throw his hat in politics anymore.

During the flag ceremony at the DOLE yesterday morning, Bello admitted that he initially wanted to run and was confident of winning a senatorial seat. But he said it’s no longer a ques-tion of winning.

Until the end of his term as DOLE chief, Bello said, he would continue to address the high unemployment problem and extend assistance to displaced workers. – With Mayen Jaymalin