Marcos appears in ‘Alyansa’ TV ad

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos appeared in the first ad of the senatorial ticket of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, whose theme revolved around working together, moving forward and achieving recovery.

The minute-long ad, which was dropped on television and online last Monday, showed the administration alliance’s 11 senatorial bets marching with people from various sectors and joining arms with Marcos and with one another in a display of unity.

The battle cry of the commercial was “forward, forward, forward together.”

“Lumipas na ang gabi ng lagim. Sama-sama, tuloy tuloy na ang ating pagbangon (The night of terror is over. Together, we will continue to recover),” the ad’s narrator said.

“Lalong bibilis, lalong gaganda ang ating pagbangon katulong ng ating mga kabisig sa Senado (Our recovery will be faster and better with our allies in the Senate).”

The ad was launched about a week before the start of the campaign period for the midterm polls, widely seen as a referendum for the Marcos administration. Before the release of the ad, some senatorial bets of the alliance had already unveiled their individual commercials.

The Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas’ senatorial ticket consists of former interior and local government secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay, Sen. Pia Cayetano, former senator Panfilo Lacson, Sen. Lito Lapid, former senator and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., former Senate president Tito Sotto, Sen. Francis Tolentino, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo and House Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar.

The administration alliance initially announced Marcos’ elder sister Sen. Imee Marcos as part of the line-up, but she decided to seek reelection as an independent candidate. Imee is a close ally of her brother’s former running-mate-turned-arch critic Vice President Sara Duterte.

The Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas consists of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Nacionalista Party and the National Unity Party.

The campaign period for national candidates will kick off on Feb. 11.