Marcos bares Alyansa 2025 senatorial slate

MANILA, Philippines — Familiar names, including two former rivals of President Marcos during the 2022 race, as well as veteran lawmakers and entertainment personalities, make up the senatorial slate of administration coalition Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas for next year’s midterm elections.

Marcos yesterday unveiled the coalition’s ticket for the Senate composed of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay, Sen. Pia Cayetano, former senator Panfilo Lacson, Sen. Lito Lapid, Sen. Imee Marcos, former senator Manny Pacquiao, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., former Senate president Vicente Sotto, Sen. Francis Tolentino, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar.

Abalos, Tolentino and Pacquiao are from Marcos’ political party Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, while Revilla and Tulfo are from the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats led by the President’s cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Four of the candidates – Sotto, Binay, Lacson and Lapid – belong to the Nationalist
 People’s Coalition while three are from the Nacionalista Party, namely Villar, Cayetano and Imee.

In August, The STAR reported that the 12 candidates constituted the senatorial line-up of the administration alliance, but some members of the coalition claimed later on that the slate was not yet final.

Lacson and Pacquiao ran for president during the 2022 elections, which saw Marcos winning by landslide.

Cayetano, Lapid, Marcos, Revilla and Tolentino are incumbent senators while Pacquiao, Sotto and Lacson were former members of the chamber. Abalos, Binay, Cayetano, Imee, Pacquiao, Tulfo and Villar are either incumbent or former members of the House of Representatives.

Binay is incumbent Makati City mayor, while five in the administration slate had served as local executives – Marcos as governor of Ilocos Norte; Lapid as Pampanga governor; Revilla, as governor of Cavite; Tolentino, as mayor of Tagaytay City and Sotto, vice mayor of Quezon City.

Abalos, Tulfo, Lacson and Tolentino had also served as Cabinet members while Lapid and Revilla were entertainment personalities known for their action flicks.

Villar’s inclusion in the slate, meanwhile, marks another chapter in her