Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday said the number of the PDP-Laban candidates for senator was reduced to five or six from the initial 24 that was submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte.
He said their candidates should be advocates of federalism.
On the other hand, former senator Lito Lapid is joining the senatorial race in 2019 via the Nationalist People’s Coalition as he and his son, former Pampanga governor Mark Lapid, took their oaths as new members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition or NPC.
Barely a week before the start of the filing of the certificates of candidacy for the May 2019 elections, Pimentel, also the party’s president, said only five or six were left on their list, but he declined to name PDP Laban’s remaining candidates for senator saying they would announce the list next week.
In August, Pimentel sent a letter to Duterte, also the party’s national chairman, indicating the 24 names of possible senatorial bets.
Asked about the reason for fewer names, Pimentel said some had backed out to run for senator while others opted to run for other elective posts.
He cited the case of Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, who decided not to pursue his initial plan to run for senator. He also mentioned Quirino Rep. Dakila Carlo Dax Cua, who decided instead to run for governor in his province.
“We will tighten or we will be very strict in our vetting or selection procedure. And if we don’t complete the slate, so be it,” Pimentel said.
Aside from being advocates of federalism, he said, PDP-Laban nominees must have served the party and must participate in party activities and not only show up during the filing of COCs.
“We’ll be strict. The nominees of PDP-Laban for senator must be federalism advocates, must have fully complied with the membership requirements, must have served the party, must have shown his or her face in party activities and not just appear when its time for the filing of candidacies,” Pimentel said.
He said they were open to forging alliances with other groups, including the parties of re-electionist senators. But he maintained that those from other parties who wished to ally with PDP-Laban should be open to federalism.
He said they still could not tell how many parties there were. If they could not make a complete list, he said, their campaign manager would have the flexibility to enter into alliances because [we have to] remember that re-electionist senators have their own parties.
Pimentel, who is also seeking reelection, said entering into alliances “will be up to the campaign manager if he wants to come up with some tactical arrangement with other candidates who must be at least open to federalism.”