Makabayan’s Casiño hails victory of Aquino, Akbayan, other allies

MANILA, Philippines — “Ang dami laban nilang haharapin.” (They will face many battles.)

This is what Makabayan senatorial candidate Teddy Casiño said on Wednesday as he hailed the victory of senatorial candidates Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, and party-lists Akbayan, Mamamayang Liberal, ACT Teachers, and Kabataan in the midterm elections.

The former Bayan Muna Party-list representative said that the candidates and party-lists “won emphatically despite all the odds against them.”

READ: Akbayan tops party list race; Bayan Muna faces delisting

“They, together with incumbent Sen. [Risa], will take the cudgels for the progressive and democratic forces in the next Congress,” Casiño said in a post in X (formerly Twitter).

Casiño also said that he is hoping that Gabriela Party-list, a party-list from the Makabayan coalition, will win a seat in the Congress. According to the unofficial and partial results as of 5:25 p.m., Gabriela ranks 55th in the party-list race, with 0.62 percent or 254,048 votes, just over 2,000 votes shy away from the Philreca Party list.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna, a party list from the Makabayan coalition, is facing the risk of being delisted by the Commission on Elections after losing two consecutive elections. The party list currently ranks 76th with 0.39 percent or 160,459 votes.

“So focus tayo, guys. Ang kaaway ay ang mga Marcos at Duterte. Ang NTF-ELCAC [National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict],” Casiño added.

(So, let’s focus. Our opponents here are the Marcoses and Dutertes and NTF-ELCAC.)

READ: LIST: Measures Makabayan bets plan to file before Senate once elected

In an earlier post, Casiño thanked the people who voted and supported him in the elections, as he ranked 32nd in the senatorial race with 4,595,971 votes. No senatorial candidates from the Makabayan coalition secured a seat in the Senate’s winning circle.

“Hindi dito nagtatapos ang laban. Sa lahat ng tumaya at tumindig, bitbit natin ang mga aral ng kampanyang ito sa mas matinding mga laban sa hinaharap,” Casiño said in a different post.

(The fight doesn’t end here. To anyone who stood up and supported me, we bring the lessons from this campaign to move forward with greater battles in the future.) /cb/abc