A reelected congressman from the Bicol Region on Tuesday said that potential candidates in the 2022 elections are expected to flock to President Rodrigo Duterte because of “the now-proven transferability of his popular backing to his chosen candidates.”
Thus, “Malacañang is likely to secure greater support for its legislative agenda in the incoming 18th Congress, most especially from legislators who will seek reelection or run for different or higher elective posts in 2022,” Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte of Camarines Sur said.
Noting the debacle of the Otso Diretso opposition slate in the senatorial polls, Villafuerte said legislators who plan to run in the 2022 polls will extend full backing to the administration’s priority bills during the remaining half of the Duterte presidency, in the hope of eventually securing his public endorsement of their possible stab in the 2022 elections.
“Lawmakers who want to boost their chances for poll victory in the 2022 elections are likely to avoid standing in the way of the President’s legislative agenda, considering the overwhelming victory of the candidates he had openly endorsed in the just-concluded midterm senatorial and local races,” Villafuerte said.
With the President’s further consolidation of political power following the victory of an overwhelming majority of his handpicked bets, Villafuerte said that most 2022 wannabes would not dare oppose Malacañang for fear of not getting his blessings in the next balloting.