Unified Opposition Slate Eyed For 2022: Leni, Grace, Isko, Nancy Among Possible Bets

What will it take to defeat the anointed successor of President Duterte in the upcoming 2022 general elections? For a new coalition formed by former government officials and justices, the answer is both simple and complicated: a unified opposition slate.

On Thursday, March 18, individuals and groups from various political ideologies have formally launched a new coalition that aims to select a single opposition slate that would represent what they described as the “democratic forces” in next year’s elections.

Former Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio, chairman and lead convenor of the 1Sambayan coalition, said they have started talking to some potential candidates for president and vice president.

Among those mentioned were Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Grace Poe and Nancy Binay, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.

“All the proposed candidates have been glad to listen to us, talk to us. None of them of course declared that they are running. These are just possible candidates,” Carpio said, stressing that the vetting process is still on the initial stages.

“We have talked to many and we are prepared to accept suggestions and nominations from anyone,” he added, although there appears to be non-negotiables.

Carpio noted there are potential candidates who would not be considered or would have a hard time securing the support of the group due to their affiliation with President Duterte.

These include presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Sen. Manny Pacquiao, currently the president of Duterte’s political party PDP-Laban.

“We are a coalition of democratic forces. We reject those who are identified with authoritarianism… We do not think that the daughter of the President will qualify under coalition,” Carpio said.

He noted Pacquiao’s support to the government’s deadly campaign illegal drugs, as well as his support for death penalty.

Former education secretary Armin Luistro, also a convenor of the coalition, said the names that were mentioned were just among the first batch who were nominated by different groups.

“Those are the initial names, but there will be five or six more that will be nominated,” he disclosed.

Other convenors include former SC justice and ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, former foreign affairs chief Albert Del Rosario, former party-list congressmen Neri Colmenares and Renato Magtubo, former Commission on Audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza, former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluella, retired admiral Rommel Ong, anti-corruption advocates Fr. Albert Alejo and Rickie Xavier.

Groups across the political spectrum have also expressed support to the coalition, including party-lists such as Bayan Muna, Akbayan and Magdalo.

Aside from candidates for president and vice president, the coalition will also endorse a single slate for senators in the 2022 elections.

But so far, no major political party has joined the call for a unified slate against the potential candidates of the administration.

In a statement, Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said the Vice President is honored to be considered as a possible consensus candidate.

“We respect the independent process being conducted by 1Sambayan, and hope that it will truly result in a greater degree of unity among democratic constituencies moving forward to 2022,” he added.

Robredo has yet to make a decision on whether to run for the highest office.

Asked about the coalition, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the present administration has no time for politicking despite talks of potential candidacies of the President’s daughter or his former aide Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go.

“Well, it is too early to talk about the elections and politics. That is what we have been saying all along, we should set aside politics while we are in a pandemic. We at the administration, we are working first to fight the pandemic,” Roque claimed.

 Unified slate

Coming up with a single opposition slate is not as easy as it sounds, considering the numerous political parties in the Philippines.

During the launch, for instance, viewers have immediately expressed their opposition after Carpio named some of those being considered as potential candidates.

But the group is hopeful their unified goal of defeating the administration bet will be able to hold the group together.

Convenors noted how Duterte won the plurality of votes in 2016 because of the different candidates fielded by what it described as the “democratic forces.”

“The understanding of everybody is that unless we are united, we cannot win in 2022. The unifying force is that we have the majority, but the majority will become a minority if they are divided,” Carpio said.

“All those who have joined the coalition have agreed to respect the decision of the convenors on who will be the candidates of the democratic forces,” he added.

According to Colmenares, they all agree that the country’s survival is at stake if another Duterte wins the election.

“Many of us are here because we agree that we all want a united opposition to resoundingly defeat the forces of tyranny that has ruled this country in the last five years. For us, that is the main unifying point here,” he declared.

“We are here to undergo a process. We are going to decide on how to search for that and achieve a unified opposition,” Colmenares said.

 The aspirants will be selected based on the criteria identified by the group: clean track record, upright stand on key issues such as extrajudicial killings and kowtowing to foreign powers, platforms and winnability.

“1Sambayan’s convenors will conduct their own online survey and take into account other surveys by reputable organizations to gauge the winnability of the aspiring candidates. Based on these, they will come up with a shortlist of aspirants suitable to become the opposition’s candidates for the elections,” the coalition said.

“From this shortlist, members of the groups in the 1Sambayan national coalition will vote on whom they want their candidates to be. The coalition may also make available certain modes through which the general public may select candidates for the opposition,” it added.

Carpio said the advantage of being in the unified slate is having the support of a lot of people belonging to the coalition.

“The candidates themselves, when we talked to them, understand the need to have one unified slate. All of them understand that if the democratic forces will feat two or more candidates, the democratic candidates will probably lose,” he added.

The coalition intends to release their endorsement before the filing of the certificate of candidacy in October.

Incompetent gov’t

During the launch of 1Sambayan, Carpio stressed the need for Filipinos to have a better government, describing the Duterte administration as incompetent.

“Our economic development has been set back not only because of the pandemic but also because of the mishandling by the present administration of the response to the pandemic,” he said.

“Instead of focusing on effective measures to contain the pandemic and on jumpstarting economic recovery, the present administration has wasted precious time and resources on charter change, shutting down mass media, threatening businesses with cancellation of franchises, threatening the academic freedom of universities and terrorizing legitimate dissenters with surveillance and arrests,” he added.

Del Rosario, like Carpio, also pointed out the social and cultural damages the current administration has caused even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To move forward, we need to remind ourselves of the fundamental principles that hold our nation together, which are currently under attack,” the former foreign affairs chief said. “We should bring back what Filipinos are and what we are all about.” – With Christina Mendez