Manila: Philippine presidential candidates, former interior secretary Mar Roxas and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, are expected to kick off their respective drive for the May 2016 elections on Tuesday, the first day of the official campaign period.
Roxas, chosen by the ruling Liberal Party to succeed President Benigno Aquino III, was expected to start his political campaign from Roxas City, an urban centre in Western Visayas’s Panay Island, which was named after his grandfather, former President Manuel Roxas.
Earlier, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared that the 90-day campaign period for the May 9, 2016 general elections starts on Tuesday.
Roxas supporters and those of Liberal Party (LP) candidate for vice-president Leni Robredo, and 12 senatorial candidates, will proceed the same day to Iloilo City.
“Western Visayas is a traditional political bailiwick of the Roxas family and it is logical that Roxas’ campaign start there,” Senate President Franklin Drilon, who is from Iloilo said.
Drilon is running for senator together with others under the LP ticket, namely, Senator Teofisto Guingona III, Ralph Recto, Serge Osmena, Panfilo Lacson, Joel Villanueva, Leila de Lima, Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan, Jericho Petilla, Mark Lapid, Risa Hontiveros, and Nariman Ambolodto.
The LP candidates are running on a platform of continuing Aquino’s “Tuwid na Daan” (Straight Path), which the party claimed, had given the country economic growth and good governance.
“There is a lot at stake for our economy in this upcoming election. All the economic gains we have achieved in the past six years will be put to naught and our people cannot fully benefit from them if our country falls into the hands of the wrong leaders,” Drilon stressed.
Duterte and his running mate Senator Allan Peter Cayetano will start off political barnstorming in Tondo, a district in Manila known for poverty.
Peter Tiu Lavinia, campaign spokesperson for the PDP Laban (Democratic Party of the Philippines-People’s Struggle Party) said they had chosen Tondo as venue for their campaign kick-off rites because the area had become a symbol of poverty as much as redemption.
“This is where migrants from the Visayas and Mindanao start their dream for a better life in seeking green pastures in the capital upon arriving at the Port of Manila. Tondo has become their symbol for a hopeful journey for change. Unfortunately, Tondo mirrors the squalor, the neglect by government, the disparity between rich and poor that characterise the state of our nation,” Lavina said.
“This is where we aim to start a new beginning for our country and our people. This campaign is not just to seek mandates or to win votes, but most importantly, to empower our citizenry and bring back to our people the power and the capacity for change; to hope for a better life, a better Philippines,” he said.
Aside from Duterte and Roxas, others running for President in the 2016 elections include Vice-President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Nationally-elected leaders, including the president, vice-president and senators, have a six years term of office. Congressional, gubernatorial and other elected officials have three year fixed terms.
