Alyansa's senatorial bets to shun negative campaigning

ILOILO City —Senatorial candidates from the Alyansa Para Sa Bagong Pilipinas vowed on Thursday not to engage in negative campaigning this Eleksyon 2025. 

During a press conference in Iloilo City, the candidates were asked about the statement made by President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. in Laoag City wherein he mentioned that those included in the administration slate were not involved in killings during the war on drugs, corruption during the pandemic, and supporting China in the West Philippine Sea.

Present during the briefing were former Secretary Benhur Abalos, outgoing Makati City Mayor Abby Binay, former Senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Manny Pacquiao, former Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senator Francis Tolentino, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo, and House Deputy Speaker Camille Villar.

Sotto said Marcos was not a candidate, adding that he was just stating facts: ''He was merely stating facts and that is as far as his perspective is concerned.''

Tulfo, for his part, said their campaign strategy would be performance-based, noting that they will not ''attack'' their political opponents. He also said the President was expressing his opinion and that he could not be dictated. 

''Nagusap-usap na po itong Alyansa na we will stay away from negative campaigning, gagawin lang po namin siguro lahat naman ho kami ng mga kasama ko dito, we will just based it on our performance. Di po namin babanatan 'yung kabila kung hindi ilalatag lang ho namin 'yung mga nagawa,'' Tulfo said. 

(The Alyansa candidates have discussed that we will stay away from negative campaigning, what we're going to do is that we will just base it on our performance. We will not attack the other candidates and we will just talk about our platforms.)

Abalos said he did not see anything wrong with the President's remarks during the kickoff rally of the administration's senatorial slate in his home province.

''Let's look at it 'yung konteksto ng pagkabuo. Sana 'yun po ang tingnan natin,'' Abalos said. 

(Let's look at it in its entirety. I hope we'll look at it that way.)

The Alyansa Para Sa Bagong Pilipinas will try to woo voters in Iloilo province, which is considered a vote-rich province with 1,649,730 voters, according to the Commission on Elections.

Meanwhile, some of the senatorial candidates also voiced their sentiments on certain national issues, including the filing of sedition and grave threat complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte.

According to Tolentino, the NBI complaint and the impeachment case could separately push through. 

''Walang conflict 'yun (there's no conflict with that), the impeachment case is not a criminal case so the NBI investigation can proceed separately from the impeachment case,'' Tolentino said. 

 Abalos, who is also a lawyer by profession, said he has to look first for the details regarding the filing of the NBI complaint against the Vice President.

As regards the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the candidates believed that the general public should be able to maximize the benefits of the state insurer.

Abalos said the information drive about PhilHealth's benefits should be strengthened.

They also pushed for stricter accountability measures, particularly an automatic waiver of bank secrecy for all government officials to combat corruption.

Lacson committed to refiling his bill mandating all officials—elected or appointed—to waive their rights under the Bank Secrecy Act when investigated for graft.

Sottobacked Lacson’s proposal as he pushed for amendments to the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) law to prevent abuse.

Livelihood

Pacquiao, a boxing icon, emphasized his advocacy of providing affordable housing, sustainable livelihood, and free education for Filipinos who are less privileged. He also vowed to more help for MSMEs.

Lacson, for his part, is considering pushing for legislation that will institutionalize the Kadiwa program to reduce food prices and curb inflation.

''Nais kong pag-aralan kung papaano ma-institutionalize ang Kadiwa, ‘yung mga stores, by way of legislation nang sa ganon ma-eliminate ‘yung pagkarami-raming middlemen kasi direkta na ito sa tulong ng [LGUs] na rin,” Lacson said.

(I want to study how to institutionalize Kadiwa stores through legislation to eliminate the number of middlemen with the help of LGUs.) —LDF/NB, GMA Integrated News.

For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.