Marcos also urges voters to reject pro-China candidates

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday assured voters that his senatorial candidates “do not have blood on their hands” from the previous administration’s bloody war on drugs.

During his address at the “Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas” proclamation rally at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena yesterday, Mr. Marcos said his candidates are all handpicked among the best, and are all free from past controversies, corruption, and foreign influence.

“Look at the record of our candidates. None of them have blood on their hands because of Tokhang (drug war). None of them were involved in pocketing sacks of money, exploiting the pandemic crisis, or abandoning our people to sickness and death,” the President said.

Mr. Marcos added that none of his candidates are pro-China nor have they coddled criminals involved in illegal POGO activities.

“We are at a crossroads as a free nation. Do we want to return to a time when our leaders wanted us to become a province of China? Do we want to go back to the days when our country was turned into a gambling den for foreigners?” he said.

“There is no one among our candidates who applauds China and is pleased when we are bombarded with water, when our Coast Guard is hit, when our fishermen are blocked, their catch stolen, and our islands seized,” he added.

The President also took jab at senatorial candidate and detained Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Apollo Quiboloy, who is facing charges of sex trafficking and sexual abuse of minors.

“None of them are like the altar boy of a false prophet who is facing charges for violating our youth and women,” he said.

“You can be sure that when our candidates take their seats in the Senate and start their work, they will not engage in such things that we have left behind and do not wish to return to,” he added.

All 12 Alyansa senatorial bets were present during the proclamation, including presidential sister, Senator Imee Marcos, who earlier said would “stand alone” instead of joining the administration ticket.

The administration slate also includes former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati City Mayor Abby Binay, Senator Pia Cayetano, Senator Lito Lapid, former Senators Panfilo Lacson and Manny Pacquiao, Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., former Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senator Francis Tolentino, ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo, and Deputy Speaker Camille Villar.

Aside from Ilocos Norte, Alyansa will also hold kickoff rallies in Iloilo City; Carmen in Davao del Norte; and Pasay City – representing three other major regions in the country.

The WPS issue figured prominently during a press conference of the administration bets ahead of the proclamation rally.

“Our approach to this problem should be multilateral, not just between the Philippines and China,” said Tolentino, who authored the Philippine Maritime Zones Law and the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Law.

Abalos emphasized the country’s 2016 arbitral victory which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea. “That victory is ours. We cannot give it away. From there, our government must take a multilateral approach,” he said.

Survey frontrunner ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo added: “Not an inch. We will not give up even a single inch. Thousands of Katipuneros died defending this country—why shouldn’t we?”

Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III raised the possibility of coming up with its own equivalent of China’s nine-dash-line to clearly mark its Exclusive Economic Zone, especially in the West Philippine Sea.

“China has its nine-dash line—maybe we need our own nine-dash line. We cannot rely solely on UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] interpretations. We need to declare our position clearly,” Sotto said.

House-to-house campaign

The Makabayan coalition, on the other hand, vowed to do house-to-house visits across the country for a grassroots campaign.

The coalition, which is fielding 11 senatorial bets, launched its campaign at the Kartilya ng Katipunan in Manila.

“Makabayan vows to focus on the issues that matter most: soaring prices, low wages, rampant corruption, lack of sovereignty and the absence of genuine democracy,” the coalition said in a statement.

Makabayan bet and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro said they will work for the conviction of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte if they are successful in their senatorial bid.

“Sara Duterte symbolizes corruption. So it’s important that Makabayan will be present at the next Congress if ever the impeachment trial will push through as we seek to fight corruption,” she said.

Fight not over

In vote-rich Cavite province, Liberal Party bets and former senators Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino kicked off their bid to return to the Upper Chamber.

“If we look at the headlines now, the problems are the same: corruption, abuse of power, illegal acts and high prices of food,” Pangilinan said.

“Before, if you ate pork, you would get high blood pressure. Now, you can get high blood pressure just from seeing the price of pork. That is what we were fighting for in 2022 – affordable food and honest government. To this day, the fight is still not over,” he added.

Pangilinan and Aquino were joined by former Vice President Leni Robredo as they started the day hearing mass at the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice in UP Diliman.

Low-key start for PDP-Laban bets

PDP-Laban candidates began their campaign with separate sorties after their slate’s proclamation rally was set on February 13, Thursday.

Reelectionist Senator Ronald dela Rosa and singer Jimmy Bondoc attended a mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Quezon City where they were joined by Mayor Joy Belmonte and Rep. Arjo Atayde.

Another reelectionist, Senator Bong Go, met with small businessmen in Davao City.