Makabayan’s lone candidate aims to ‘break rules’ in campaign
-A A +AWednesday, October 3, 2012
MANILA -- The lone senatorial candidate of the Makabayan Coalition, a new political party, seeks to “break the rules” of the campaign as he vowed to give the electorate a “real choice” in the 2013 midterm polls.
Representative Teddy Casiňo of the Bayan Muna party-list filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator at the main office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Wednesday morning.
Clad in a jogging suit, Casiňo went with his family and fellow Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares. He jogged with his supporters from the San Agustin Church to the Palacio de Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila.
“Yung pagtakbo ay simbolo na ang takbong ito sa Senado ay isang bagay na kailangang pagpawisan, kailangang paghandaan. Hindi birong bagay at kasama ko sa pagtakbong ito ang sambayanang Pilipino,” he said.
Casiňo admits that it is a big challenge to run for the Senate without the political machinery of the United Nationalist Alliance nor the the Liberal Party-led coalition.
“On the other hand, kailangang gawin ito dahil nakita naman natin yung UNA at LP coalition ay pare-parehong mga pangalan na, pare-parehong mga pamilya, mga senador at dating mga seandor at mga kamag-anak,” he said.
“Panahon na para magkaroon ng iba sa Senado…We really aim to break the rules of the campaign,” the lawmaker stressed.
The coalition, accredited as a political party in January this year, will tap its grassroots machinery to campaign on “platforms of issues and not so much on personalities and guns, goons and gold”.
In the 2010 national elections, Casiňo’s fellow Makabayan Coalition members—Liza Maza and Satur Ocampo—ran under the Nacionalista Party of Senator Manny Villar. Both of them lost with only close to four million votes each.
If he wins in the 2013 polls, Casiňo said he will push for the reduction of the value-added tax (VAT) on basic commodities. He proposes to slash the VAT by six percent.
The Bayan Muna legislator also vowed additional livelihood for Filipinos and a platform of good governance. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)
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