On Monday, May 13, the Philippines will hold its 31st senatorial elections to decide the new set of senators who will serve the country for the next three to six years.
From 82 aspirants who filed for candidacy last year, only 33 passed the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) benchmark and were deemed eligible to compete for the 12 seats in the senate.
Social Weather Stations – a private non-stock, nonprofit social research institution that has been releasing senatorial election polls since 1985 – in cooperation with business paper BusinessWorld, recently released the results of the 6th SWS-BW Pre-Election Survey which revealed the standings of the 33 competing senatorial hopefuls based on the citizen’s voting preferences.
The latest survey conducted in the period April 13 to 15, 2013, with 1,800 registered voters from different places as respondents, showed 13 candidates – nine from Team PNoy and four from the United Nationalist Alliance – as the frontrunners of the senatorial race.
Watch out this week as The LaSallian provides a brief profile of the senatorial hopefuls who are sitting on the winning circle of the latest SWS-BW survey in anticipation of next week’s elections.
Tonight we look at Team PNoy’s Sonny Trillanes, Grace Poe and Sonny Angara – senatoriables pegged at 11th, 10th and 9th place respectively.
Sonny Trillanes (Team PNoy)
Consistent member of the SWS-BW Pre-Election winning circle, Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV finds himself at the 10th-11th spot tied with Grace Poe at 39 percent of votes, despite being 8th place in the poll for the previous two surveys, February and March 2013.
Before he became a senator, Sonny Trillanes was a Navy Lieutenant Senior who led the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny that exposed corruption in government, most especially from within the military—an act bringing him behind the bars, facing rebellion charges.
In the 2007 elections, Trillanes placed 11th on the senatorial race after launching a campaign from inside his prison cell. The detained soldier’s anti-Arroyo advocacy and the sheer courage he showed to fight corruption allowed him to get enough supporters to secure a senate seat.
In November 29, 2007, just months after being elected, the Caloocan-based senator led a coup attempt at the Manila Peninsula Hotel together with 26 other Magdalo officers, seeking to oust then President Gloria Macapacal-Arroyo. The movement was flouted as military forces successfully barged into the hotel lobby, subduing the dissenters and consequently leading to Trillanes’ surrendering.
He was arrested and held at Camp Crame. However, he was later granted amnesty by ally President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
As a senator, Trillanes was responsible for the passage of several bills into law, including the Natural Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, the Geology Profession Act of 2012, the Archipelagic Baselines Law, and the law for the Immediate Release of Retirement Benefits for Government Employees.
The Nacionalista Party (NP) and Team PNoy bet is the current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization, and the Senate Committee on Amateurs Sports Competitiveness.
10th-11th
Grace Poe (Team PNoy)
The UNA guest candidate under the administrative coalition, Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares made it to the winning circle as she garnered 39 percent or 702 of the possible 1800 poll votes, tied with coalition team mate Sonny Trillianes on the 10th-11th spot.
The former chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) styles herself as a “Tatak FPJ” (FPJ Branded) senator, as she promises to fight for her father Fernando Poe Jr.’s advocacies for poverty alleviation, child welfare, and electoral reform.
As MTRCB Chairperson from 2010 to 2012, Poe reformed the classification of movies and television into a more categorized arrangement, strengthening citizens’ awareness on the significance of an age appropriate TV and movie classification system. She also provided institutional support for independent film makers during her stint in the MTRCB. She also implemented policies for the protection of the welfare of child actors.
Grace Poe also advocates a clean and fraud-free election, as she is an active member of poll watchdog and electoral reform advocacy group Kontra Daya.
She is also affiliated with the FPJ Foundation, where she works as an Officer and Board Member, a contributor to Mowelfund (Movie Workers Welfare Fund), and an honorary chairman of FPJPM (Filipinos for Peace, Justice, and Progress Movement Party-list).
Despite her lack of government positions held in the past, Grace Poe argues that while she might be a newcomer to politics, but not to public service.
9th
Sonny Angara (Team PNoy)
Aurora Congressman Sonny Angara, son of incumbent Senator Edgardo J. Angara ranks 9th on the SWS-BW survey with 42 percent poll votes, the highest result he has ever received since August last year, where he ranked 5th-7th.
The aspiring second Angara of the Senate is a Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino bet, and is under the administrative coalition Team PNoy.
On his third term of service as Congressman of Aurora, he has reputedly been able to provide citizens with easier access to education by giving away 3,000 scholarships to students from various colleges, universities, TESDA schools, and indigenous communities in his territory. The congressman also allocated P60 million for the construction of school buildings and the improvement of educational facilities to boost the province’s educational services.
Health centers manned by well-practiced doctors and nurses were also established during his term. To expand his goal of promoting good health among the citizens of Aurora, Angara allocated P6 million for the hospitalization of indigent patients, and provided dental and medical missions in Baler.
Infrastructural advancement of Aurora reputedly escalated as well under his governance.
As a congressman for 9 years, he enacted several laws, including Magna Carta for Seafarers, the Legitimation of Children, the Credit Information System Act, the Natural Cultural Heritage Act, the Kindergarden Education Act, the Salary Standardization Law III and the Tourism Act.
He also voted for the legislation of Kasambahay Bill, the Anti-bullying Law, the National Student Loan Program, the Moro History, Culture and Identity Studies Act, and the Whistleblower Bill.
