Choosing a senatorial slate

In the past few weeks, I have received many requests to suggest names for people to vote for in the senatorial elections. Up to today, less than a week before Filipinos go to the polls, I hesitated to do so with the exception of a few close friends with whom I shared my initial list. I have actually endorsed mainly through Facebook a few candidates during the campaign but I have avoided publishing in media outlets my complete slate.  

Among others, any list I came up with would surely be criticized, including by many friends and colleagues. Who would want that? And who am I to actually come up with such a list? I certainly know that I do not command any votes (even from family members who will not necessarily follow my example). On the other hand, as I thought about it, it would be useful to readers if I did share the decision process I used to arrive at my senatorial slate.

The names would be less important as the criteria and the thinking that went into finalizing the list. This think piece is about my process and I offer it to all voters who have not yet completed their list of candidates for the Senate.

At the outset, let me be clear that I intend to fill up my senatorial ballot and to vote for 12 candidates. None of my choices are perfect from any perspective – and some are better than others. But for me, as I have always done in the past, I will choose the top 12 candidates I can find. 

I cannot believe that a country of a 100 million people cannot produce the minimum needed to fill up a senatorial ballot. I find it arrogant for me to make such a judgment on our candidates whom I actually laud for taking the risk and enduring a tough campaign. 

I have identified 16 names I could vote for and settled on 12 as of today.

The 12 candidates that have my vote are Sonny Angara, Bam Aquino, Teddy Casiño, Alan Peter Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Ed Hagedorn, Risa Hontiveros, Loren Legarda, Jun Magsaysay, Koko Pimentel, Cynthia Villar, and Migz Zubiri. Dick Gordon, JC de los Reyes, Grace Poe Llamanzares and Eddie Villanueva are also candidates I could vote for and I will choose from them if there are major developments in the campaign in this last week that will compel me to drop a name or two from my current list.

Let me share how I arrived at these names.

The first thing I decided to do was not to choose on the basis of winnability. I have always found such an approach to selecting a candidate to vote for as depressing and self-defeating. Related to this, I also refuse to do a negative list of candidates, i.e. candidates I will not vote for. 

In fact, although I am not voting for her, I find the attacks against Nancy Binay as extremely mean, unfair and uncalled for. It is also quite condescending of Nancy Binay supporters whom her critics seem to assume are ignorant and incapable of making their own decision. I was actually tempted to vote for her out of irritation of the Nancy Binay bashers. But in the end, I realize I do not know enough of her record or positions to give me a reason to vote for her. 

On a similar vein, the recent barrage of attacks against Loren Legarda is also something I would discount. I have listened to her response to this criticism of her SALN and I am satisfied that she has reported the New York property in question properly.

I also decided not to vote against candidates for their positions on individual or specific issues. Thus it is immaterial to me whether one supported or did not support the reproductive health bill (both pro and anti RH candidates are in my list); what is important to me is that the candidate followed his or her conscience in this issue. Sonny Angara’s position on APECO, as I explain below, is less important to me than his whole record as a legislator and my personal knowledge of him as a person.

I also decided not to use family relationships (the dynasty issue) as a deciding factor as that would have instantly limited my pool of choices. 

Good governance

On a more positive note, my list is informed by those groups I identify with who have endorsed candidates based on criteria of good governance that I agree with. 

Hence, I am voting for all four candidates (Aquino, Hontiveros, Magsayay, and Pimentel) supported by the Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance (disclosure: I am a member of its board which had a role in the selection process) and eight (Angara, Aquino, Casiño, Escudero, Hagedorn, Hontiveros, Magsaysay, and Pimentel)  of the twelve candidates chosen by the Movement for Good Governance. In addition, three (Gordon, Poe-Llamanzares, De Los Reyes) in my alternate list were also endorsed by the Movement for Good Governance.

Ideology was not a major consideration in choosing my senatorial slate. In fact, if I used an ideological lens, only two candidates (Casiño and Hontiveros) would qualify in my list. 

As far apart as Akbayan and Bayan Muna are from each other politically, most of the time they take the same positions on political and social issues that the country faces. And most of the time I agree with these positions. Thus from the very beginning, it was clear to me that I would vote for both Casiño and Hontiveros as ideologically, on social justice issues particularly, I identify with them. 

A major positive consideration for me in coming up with my list is how the candidate stands on environmental issues. Professionally, I work in this field and know we need all the allies we can get. This explains my vote for Hagedorn, Legarda, Pimentel, Villar, and Zubiri. This also gives me another reason to vote for Casiño and Hontiveros. 

Another major lens I used comes from my Mindanao roots. Because our great island is so under-represented in the Senate, I have always voted for Mindanawons unless there were enough compelling reasons not to do so. This is still another reason why I will vote for Pimentel, Casiño and Zubiri.

Social entrepreneurship is also an issue close to my heart. In addition to the endorsement by Kaya Natin and the Movement for Good Governance, Bam Aquino’s record and leadership in this field is another reason why I am voting for him. Likewise, Alan Peter Cayetano’s support of social entrepreneurship legislation is one reason I have included him in my list.

Experience and a good record in local governance is a plus for me. This is another reason why I will vote for Hagedorn and will consider Gordon as an alternate in case I decide to replace someone in my current list.

Likability

Finally, personal knowledge and likability of a candidate are factors that helped me complete my list. 

I personally know in varying degrees Angara, Aquino, Cayetano, Escudero, Gordon, Hagedorn, Hontiveros, Legarda, and Pimentel. I like them as persons and as politicians. 

I have known Hontiveros (as a student in Ateneo de Manila when I was teaching philosophy there in the 1980s) and Pimentel (my town mate from Cagayan de Oro and classmate at UP Law) for many years and they have always impressed me with their idealism and commitment. I will vote for them anytime and for almost any position they would aspire for.

At the beginning of the campaign, I wondered if I should vote for Sonny Angara because I am critical of the APECO project in his home province. Sonny was my student in UP Law and I have followed with interest his political career. He has been a good legislator with a record that he can be proud of, especially on education. I am convinced that he will be a good senator and that the country will benefit from his competence and integrity. I vote for him with the hope that he will find ways to work with APECO critics to make the project more acceptable. 

Legarda, Cayetano, Escudero, Hagedorn and Gordon are well-known personalities, controversial even. They have many years of public service before them and I think the country will benefit from their experience.

I am do not personally know Senator Jun Magsaysay but I like him a lot. I had a few limited encounters with him in the 1990s when I was a DENR Undersecretary and he was a senator and I was always impressed by his decency and integrity. He also has a solid legislative record that has done the country well. It would be good to see him back in the senate.

As for Grace Poe-Llamanzares, JC De Los Reyes and Eddie Villanueva (whom I voted for as president in 2004), these are names (with Gordon) in my alternate list. Even if I do not know them personally, I also really like them. I like the way they talk about their convictions and the way they carry themselves with dignity. They are for me attractive candidates in that sense. 

This is the decision process I followed in arriving at my senatorial slate. I could be wrong of course in some of these choices. But I will vote knowing that I gave this electoral exercise (I am doing the same for my congressional, local and party list choices) the attention it deserves. – Rappler.com

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