Senatorial bets of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino- Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) and other guest candidates in their ticket made their campaign rally in City Coliseum last April 4, 2019 attended by local government officials, barangay leaders and supporters. President Rodrigo Duterte himself and campaign manager Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao later joined the rally and endorsed the senatorial candidates.
Among the PDP-Laban candidates were re-electionist Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel Jr., Congressman Dong Mangudadatu, Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, former PNP Director General Ronald Bato, and Secretary Francis Tolentino.
The guest candidates were former interior and local government Sec.Rafael Alunan III, singer Freddie Aguilar, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, and re-electionist Senators Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, Sonny Angara and Cynthia Villar.
Only PDP-Laban guest candidate Senator Pia Cayetano didn’t make it during the campaign.
Former Senate President and reelectionist Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel Jr. told voters that during his term as president of the Senate, he made sure to pass legislations to fulfill President Duterte’s campaign promise including free tertiary education in state colleges and universities, free irrigation, increase the base pay for the military and police, among others.
He promised to help end the contractualization to uplift ordinary workers’ living conditions. “Sa ngalan ng hustisya ay tapusin na ang ENDO,” he said.
He further said he proposed to make barangay officials as regular government employees who will be entitled to retirement benefits.
Pimentel said that the bill was originally filed in 2007 by his father, former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel who also authored the Local Government Code of 1991 also known as the Republic Act 7160.
“Hindi ito naipasa noon kasi maaring hindi pa kaya ng budget. Kasi ang size ng ekonomiya noon ay three times larger na ngayon. Panahon na po maging batas na ito,” Pimentel said.
General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said that he wanted to sustain the momentum of President Duterte’s war on drugs to significantly rid illegal drugs while he wanted drug traffickers to face death penalty as capital punishment.
“Naibalik na natin ang ating lansangan sa most vulnerable sector sa ating society, mga kababaihan at mga kabataan dahil dati nagkalat ang adik at nagkalat ang kriminal,” declared Dela Rosa.
Senator Sonny Angara said that he wanted to create Senior Citizens Commission and will increase the pension of indigent senior citizens from only P500 to P1,000 monthly.
Reelectionist Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, which he is the principal author said that the Universal Health Care provide a greater health services to all Filipinos.
“Bawat Pilipino ay automatic ng myembro ng Philhealth. Bawat Pilipino ay makakatanggap na ng tulong sa panahon ng pangangailangan,” Ejercito said.
Maguindanao Congressman Dong Mangudadatu said that Christians and Muslim can live harmoniously and lasting peace is attainable.
Francis Tolentino is pushing for the creation of Disaster Management and pushed for disaster preparedness and resiliency of the local government units (LGUs).
SAP Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go told voters that the Malasakit Center that they established in 24 sites in the country has one in Palawan, located within Ospital Ng Palawan (ONP).
Cynthia Villar said that even before she become senator their family business and other special projects has been empowering women especially solo parent. P2 Billion is allocated by the government each year through Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the trainings in farm schools and agricultural training centers.
Former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III pushed for counter-terrorism bill and creation of regional centers/ health facility that will only cater elderly and person with disability, while Freddie Aguilar said that he wanted a jury system judiciary like that in the United States to efficiently serve justice for all.
Gov. Imee Marcos said that their best practice and experience in Ilocos Norte on poverty reduction could be implemented across the country. She said that by helping farmers, fishermen and low-income families, they lower the poverty in their province from 35 percent to only three percent, lower than that in the National Capital Region or Metro Manila.
Other legislative agenda presented by their party include establishment of Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), agricultural enhancement and food security, among others.
