Casiño runs in the rain, files COC for Senate bid

MANILA, Philippines – Bayan Muna Rep Teddy Casiño filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for his Senate bid Wednesday, October 3.

Casiño arrived at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Intramuros, Manila, at around 9 am. He filed his COC after running in the rain from the San Agustin Church to the Comelec office.

The partylist representative is running under the leftist Makabayan coalition, composed of at least 8 party-list groups: Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis, Kabataan, Katribu, Migrante, Courage, and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).

The coalition, Casiño said, decided not to join the coalitions of the administration Liberal Party or the United Nationalist Alliance.

“Our consensus in the party is that I am better off running solo. In this way, I won’t be tied down by the political complications and baggages that a coalition of traditional parties usually entail,” said Casiño in a statement released Monday, September 3.

Wearing shorts as he filed his candidacy, Casiño said he wanted to make a point. “We really aim to break the rules of the campaign,” he said in an interview with reporters after filing his COC. 

“We don’t want guns, goons, and gold. We want to prove that a decent candidate, who truly represents the masses, can win in the Senate race. And that will make a difference,” the solon said in Filipino.

How will he fund a campaign that requires millions of pesos? He said he will get support “from the people.” “Definitely, we will tap our grassroots machinery,” he said, without discounting the need for help from “traditional” sources.

“Hindi maipagkakaila na kami ay makikipagtulungan kahit sa mga tradisyunal na mga pulitiko at mga traditonal political machineries. Basta’t ang importante ay hindi kami makakain ng sistema,” he explained. (We can’t deny that we will ask help even from traditional politicians and traditional machineries. What’s important is that the system wouldn’t eat us up.)

Casiño is on his third and last term in the House of Representatives.

Makabayan fielded two senatorial candidates in the 2010 national elections: former Bayan Muna Rep Satur Ocampo and former Gabriela Rep Liza Maza. Both lost.

The Makabayan coalition earlier said they will work hard to make Casiño win. – with reports from Paterno Esmaquel II/Rappler.com