Aksyon Demokratiko adopts opposition senatorial bets, Lito Lapid

Lian Buan

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Aksyon Demokratiko adopts opposition senatorial bets, Lito Lapid

Maria Salvador Tan

The political party founded by the late senator Raul Roco also endorses the party-lists Luntiang Pilipinas and Wow Pilipinas

MANILA, Philippines – Aksyon Demokratiko on Monday, January 21, endorsed the full slate of the Oposisyon Koalisyon and former senator Lito Lapid for the 2019 senatorial elections.

Aksyon’s official candidate is former solicitor general Florin Hilbay, who took his oath as official member of the party on Monday, alongside other local candidates like Councilor Vico Sotto who is running for mayor in Pasig City.

Aside from Hilbay, Aksyon said it is adopting all the other 7 candidates of the opposition, including Liberal Party (LP) nominees Mar Roxas, Senator Bam Aquino, former representative Erin Tañada, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano, Samira Gutoc, and independent candidate Romulo Macalintal.

Aquino and Tañada attended Aksyon’s event on Monday held at the historic Club Filipino in San Juan.

Opposition bets have been lagging behind administration bets and their allies in recent senatorial surveys, with Roxas bumped off the Magic 12 to 13th place, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey. Aquino was at 15th place, while others were way behind.

Aksyon Demokratiko is a political party founded in 1997 by the late senator Raul Roco. It also endorsed Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in the 2010 presidential elections and currently has over a thousand members nationwide.

Can Aksyon help them improve visibility, and chances of winning?

“We have 3 weeks left before the start of the campaign, ang pinaka-challenge po namin, sana po suriin po kami, kami lang po ‘ata ang grupong nagsasabi pakisuri po kami, paki-background check po kami,” Aquino said, adding that he is grateful for the endorsement as he wasn’t sure that Aksyon would give its backing to all opposition candidates.

(Our biggest challenge is, I hope they really scrutinize us, we are the only group who asks to be scrutinized and who asks to have a background check done on us.) 

Endorsements

Aksyon also endorsed the party-lists Luntiang Pilipinas, which initially fielded former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque as its nominee to the House of Representatives (Roque eventually filed his candidacy for the Senate), and Wow Pilipinas, whose logo’s prominence at the Pacquiao match Sunday night raised some eyebrows.

Wow Pilipinas Spokesperson Robin Michael Garcia attended the event but left early without answering questions. Aksyon Vice President for Education, Research and Policy Leon Flores III also deflected questions about Wow Pilipinas.

Aquino, Hilbay, and Tañada reiterated their opposition to the bill lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 9 years old, which passed the House justice committee on Monday.

Flores said the party also opposes the bill.  (READ: Beyond juvenile delinquency: Why children break the law)

Asked if they have confirmation that every candidate they are endorsing to Congress shares the party’s position, Flores said: “Bago lang ‘to ‘no, so tinitingnan namin ‘yung mga Facebook account nila, we haven’t had the chance to call them one by one but so far ‘yung mga ineendorso natin so far tutol naman sa lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility.”

(This is new, but we were looking at their Facebook pages, we haven’t had the chance to call them one by one but so far the candidates we’re endorsing are aganst the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility.) – Rappler.com

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Lian Buan

Lian Buan is a senior investigative reporter, and minder of Rappler's justice, human rights and crime cluster.