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 examine the profiles of JV Ejercito, Koko Pimentel and Bam Aquino.
JV Ejercito, UNA
United Nationalist Alliance bet Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito-Estrada, son of former President Joseph Estrada, ranks 7th-8th, tied with Koko Pimentel on the SWS-BW poll, after a drop from 48 percent in March to 43 percent on April.
JV Ejercito is the present Chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, and current Congressman of San Juan, the same city for which he became mayor for three terms.
Under his governance, the City of San Juan topped the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS), which measures a local government unit’s performance and development in terms of economic management, financial accountability and other components of good governance.
The LGU of San Juan City had its lowest poverty incidence under Ejercito’s leadership. The city also posted revenues mainly from increased investments during the same period.
What makes the UNA bet prouder and more determined to pursue his senate race is witnessing San Juan’s conversion from the municipality of San Juan into a highly urbanized city, last June 17, 2008.
The Political Science graduate of De La Salle University now seeks to be the 4th Estrada in the Senate, following the footsteps of his father, Joseph Estrada, mother Loi Ejercito, and brother Jinggoy Estrada.
Ejercito’s platform, “Ginhawa para sa Masa, Aksyon ng Pagkakaisa” (Relief for the Mass, Action of Unity) advocates a good quality education for all, job creation, workers’ rights protection, promoting tourism,as well as a priority program for full-scale development in Mindanao, a region long known to be loyal to the Estradas.
Koko Pimentel, Team PNoy
After serving for just a year and 10 months, Partidong Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP) and administrative coalition bet Aquilino Martin “Koko” Pimentel seeks to again seat himself in the Senate, this time for the entire three or six years. Based on the recent SWS survey, the odds are in his favor.
Ranking 7th-8th after accumulating 42 percent or 756 of the possible 1800 votes, Koko Pimentel dropped from his prior standing tied at 5th-7th with Binay and Villar in March, while remaining on the winning circle.
Just like his father, former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., the senator lawyer from Misamis Oriental claims that he is also a victim of electoral fraud.
During the May 14, 2007 senatorial elections, Pimentel lost against Bukidnon Congressman Miguel Zubiri for the last slot in the Philippine Senate by a close margin. But on July 2011, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan became the whistle-blower of the poll fraud in Maguindanao back in 2007, greatly affecting Pimentel’s chances of landing 12th on the senatorial elections.
Weeks after Ampatuan made the revelation, Zubiri resigned as senator of the Philippines, with the position taken over by Pimentel on August 11, 2011.
During his limited stay in the Senate, the 1990 Philippine Bar topnotcher was able to co-author the Foster Care Act, which seeks to protect children whose parents are not willing and able to take care of them. He also authored 11 bills, including the Social Housing Development and Finance Corporation Act of 2012, Boy Scouts of the Philippine Chapter of 2012, and the Amusement Industry Safety Board Act.
He became the Chairman of Senate Committees on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, as well as the Select Oversight Committee on Suffrage.
On March 2013, just 2 months away from the elections, the fire of the Zubiri-Pimentel rivalry rekindled as Zubiri accused Pimentel of battering his wife, former Bb. Pilipinas Universe Jewel May Lobaton. Pimentel’s wife has denied the accusations, and Pimentel himself has according to press coverage since forgiven Zubiri.
The re-electionist is against the RH Law and any possible Divorce Law, while standing on the affirmative side for the Freedom of Information Bill and Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro.
Bam Aquino, Team PNoy
Team PNoy and Liberal Party bet Bam Aquino’s recent poll standing poses the possibility of him being the sixth in his family to join the Senate throughout Philippine history.
Having Chiz Escudero labeled as the recent poll’s “biggest loser”, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino surpassed Escuedro, seizing 6th place with 44 percent compared to the March release.
Since he filed for candidacy, critics have attacked him for his lack of experience in the field of public service and governance, pointing out the likelihood of him being the pet of his cousin, the President.
The consistent honor student of Ateneo de Manila from grade school to college and graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government was chairman of National Youth Commission (NYC) Philippines, a government agency dealing with the issues and concerns of the youth. In 2003, he was appointed as Chairman of NYC at the age of 25, making him the youngest person in Philippine history to be appointed to a government agency.
He was also a founding member and constitutional chairman of National Union of Catholic Student Councils, and is presently busy at work as the founder of the Hapinoy Sari-Sari Store Program, an NGO and program focusing on training and providing market research and insight services to small neighborhood convenience stores or sari-sari stores in the Philippines.
Aquino continues to work in order to develop partnerships for the Hapinoy Program and government units, namely the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Public Service Employment Office, and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
If elected, Bam Aquino promises to give priority on giving job opportunities to the youth and improving the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
