Ex-Ramos aide files COC for senator

MANILA -- Retired general Ramon Montaño, the adviser of former President Fidel Ramos on police matters, wants to fulfil the "dream of Edsa 86" as he filed his candidacy papers Wednesday afternoon.

Montaño, head of the now defunct Philippine Constabulary in the 80s, also ran for senator in the 2004 elections but later on withdrew his candidacy to support the late Fernando Poe Jr.

He was then running under Eddie Gil's Partido Isang Bansa Isang Diwa.

Montaño also ran in the 2007 midterm polls as district representative of Negros Occidental; this time, joining the Liberal Party (LP), now the ruling party led by President Benigno Aquino III.

"I don't think I have the pedigree," he said when asked why he was not adopted by the LP-led coalition.

"I campaigned for Noynoy (President Aquino) in 2010 but after that he forgot about me," the 75-year-old senatorial candidate added.

Aquino won in the 2010 presidential elections edging eight other candidates.

In a statement titled "The Last Hurrah", Montaño said he seeks to represent soldiers and policemen who are "exploited by political leaders to perpetuate themselves in power".

"Many, many decades later, the aging participants of that People (Edsa) Revolution for true reforms and for people empowerment are witnessing its utter failure…and the dream of Edsa 86 remains a dream. It is in pursuit of this dream forged at Edsa in 1986 for all to travel the straight narrow path for reforms, for justice, for honor that impelled me to try to join the Senate in 2013," he said.

Montaño is the 35th to file a certificate of candidacy (COC) since the Commission on Elections started accepting COCs last Monday. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)