Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Sunday they are hoping to increase the membership of the Minority Bloc in the Senate by fielding more candidates in the 2025 midterm elections.
At present, there are only two opposition senators in the Upper Chamber—Hontiveros and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III.
“I have been working on it for the past two years, together with the other opposition leaders, after the 2022 general elections,” she said in an interview over DWIZ. “We have been preparing for this midterm elections in 2025.”
Hontiveros said their list of senatorial candidates remains a “work in progress.” But she earlier posted the names of former Senators Mar Roxas and Bam Aquino, as well as human rights lawyer Chel Diokno among potential contenders.
The Senate Deputy Minority Leader also said they are hoping former Senator Leila de Lima and former Vice President Leni Robredo will participate in the 2025 senatorial race.
“Let us just give her (De Lima) the opportunity to think about it in the coming days,” said Hontiveros.
De Lima, who was recently acquitted of all trumped up drug charges, said she has no decision yet to re-enter politics.
“I am giving it serious thought and deep reflection. I will not just go back to the world of politics after everything I went through,” said De Lima, who is currently serving as spokesperson of the Liberal Party.
Robredo, meanwhile, had earlier announced she would run for mayor in her hometown of Naga City. But Hontiveros said they are hoping she would change her mind and seek a Senate seat instead.
“Let us wait for her (Robredo’s) final official announcement on her electoral plans in midterm elections,” Hontiveros noted.
She stated that the idea of working with the Marcos administration or the Duterte faction is totally out of the question, even if the opposition cannot come up with 12 names for the senatorial slate.
Hontiveros believed that although it is important to stop the Dutertes from returning to power, there are also unresolved issues in our history of human rights violations and plunder.
“And moving forward, I think the opposition has a ‘unique offer’ in terms of a vision and platform of governance,” she said.