1Sambayan launches university chapters, says unification efforts for Eleksyon 2022 ongoing

Efforts to come up with a unified ticket for the 2022 elections are currently ongoing, the opposition coalition 1Sambayan said Wednesday.

“Right now we are still talking to coalition partners, to possible candidates, and we have given possible candidates until the end of this month to be nominated,” retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, one of the convenors of 1Sambayan, said during the launching of the coalition's first university chapters.

“Starting September, we will ask our chapters to vote and give their preferences on who should be the candidates and before the end of September we should be able to make a recommendation who will be the candidates of 1Sambayan.”

Carpio earlier expressed confidence that the opposition would be able to form a unified ticket before the filing of certificates of candidacy in October.

Previously, 1Sambayan selected Vice President Leni Robredo, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Senator Grace Poe, CIBAC party-list Representative Eduardo Villanueva, lawyer Chel Diokno, and Batangas Representative Vilma Santos-Recto as their nominees for presidential and vice presidential posts in the 2022 elections.

Poe, Diokno, and Santos-Recto declined their nominations, while Senator Joel Villanueva believed his father — Representative Villanueva — will not gun for the presidency due to the recent tragedy in their family.

Youth vote

Carpio, meanwhile, cited the importance of youth vote in the upcoming general elections.

“The youth is a very large sector. If the youth will act in unison and participate in the elections, they will actually decide who will be the next elected leaders of this country. I think they are realizing now that the future is in their hands,” he said.

Students from La Salle and Ateneo launched the first university chapters of 1Sambayan during the press conference. —KBK, GMA News