Lakas-CMD machinery could help Marcos-backed Senate bets

The machinery of the Philippines’ dominant political party would boost its senatorial candidates’ chances in the midterm elections next month, its campaign manager said on Wednesday.

“We are deeply grateful to Speaker Romualdez and the entire Lakas-CMD for their trust and commitment,” Navotas Rep. Tobias Reynald M. Tiangco, campaign manager of the Senate ticket, said in a statement. “Their support gives our campaign the strength and organization needed to reach more voters across the country.”

Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Tuesday ordered his political party, the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), to support senatorial bets under the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas (Alliance for a New Philippines) for a “sweeping victory.”

The Commission on Elections has declared Lakas-CMD as the dominant majority political party in the May 12 elections, based on the number of its incumbent elective officials and its capacity to field candidates across all government levels.

The political party, which holds a majority at the House of Representatives, is fielding more than 6,000 candidates across national and local levels in this year’s elections.

In a separate statement, Lakas-CMD said provincial governors linked with the party have pledged to secure millions of votes for the 11 senatorial candidates backed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The party has 14 governors representing provinces with more than 9 million voters.

“With Lakas-CMD’s help, we are confident that the people will elect leaders who will work with the administration to deliver real progress,” Mr. Tiangco said.

Meanwhile, a coalition of more than 50 party-list groups at the House also backed the administration’s Senate bets, saying the move is “necessary and strategic” to ensure that Mr. Marcos’ policy agenda won’t be sidelined at the Senate.

“We are backing candidates who share the same legislative priorities, the same aspirations for a more progressive, more stable and more inclusive Philippines,” Party-list Rep. Jose J. Teves, Jr., vice-president of the Party-list Coalition Foundation, Inc., said in a separate statement.

Their support for the Marcos-backed senatorial candidates comes after Mr. Romualdez met with the party-list coalition on Tuesday.

“We are appealing to you to go straight Alyansa,” the Speaker told the 40 party-list representatives who attended the luncheon meeting. “If we can go straight… we will showcase the political clout of party-list lawmakers.”

“When the party-list acts together… we are talking conservatively of 15 million votes that you can command easily,” he added.

Mr. Romualdez’s move to campaign and mobilize support for the administration’s senatorial candidates reeks of political insecurity, Hansley A. Juliano, who teaches political science at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “If the supermajority was consistent, that alone would have sufficed.”

Backing political coalitions and heavyweights won’t guarantee voter support for Alyansa candidates, Anthony Lawrence A. Borja, an associate political science professor at De La Salle University, said via Messenger chat.

He added that some Duterte supporters might still be persuaded not to come up with a solid vote and pick some candidates not allied with the clan. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio