Hontiveros open to lead ‘3rd force’ in 2028

Sen. Risa Hontiveros —Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the mild-mannered but tenacious opposition figure in the Senate for the past nine years, on Wednesday declared herself available as the standard-bearer of a third force that would challenge President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s would-be anointed successor and Vice President Sara Duterte’s possible presidential bid in 2028.

Buoyed by the stunning victories of her political allies in the midterm elections, Hontiveros said she was also ready to accept bigger responsibilities, such as taking the helm of the Senate minority leadership from outgoing Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

The lawmaker said she and the other leaders of the so-called “pinklawans,” or those identified with former Vice President Leni Robredo and the once-dominant Liberal Party of the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, would focus on further unifying their group over the next nine months.

READ: Aquino, Pangilinan feats hailed as ‘real opposition’ gain

Working with Bam, Kiko

A jubilant Hontiveros said that she was excited to be working again with Senators-elect Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV and Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, who were not expected to win after lagging behind in voter preference surveys.

She, however, maintained that determining their group’s possible presidential candidate of the “progressive” forces in the 2028 national elections would still have to be determined “somewhere up the road.”

“My priority right now, and I say this to my colleagues and allies, is to consolidate [our forces] … to a greater degree than [what] we were able to do after 2022,” Hontiveros said at Wednesday’s Kapihan sa Senado news forum.

“Even our process of selection for our strongest possible slate that will slug it out and win in 2028, we can decide that somewhere up the road. I think the most urgent thing to do now is for us to be united in these nine months,” she said.

‘Not saying no’

Asked if she was open to the possibility of joining the presidential race, she replied candidly: “I’m not saying no. I’m open to all possibilities.”

“And that is what I’m also asking to all my colleagues in the opposition or independent bloc—to be open to all possibilities and to each other for the sake of the opposition and our countrymen,” she quickly added.

According to Hontiveros, she was certain that a “progressive or a reformist alternative” would be fielded by the groups that are critical of both the President and the family of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is now locked up in a detention cell of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, awaiting trial for the deaths of thousands in his brutal drug war.

“So at least there would be a third slate, a third candidate,” she said. “But I cannot say who that would be because that will be part of our selection process.”

She said she was hoping that the system of choosing their possible candidates would be crafted as they consolidate their forces.

‘Historic’ gains

The senator said the “historic electoral gains” of Aquino and Pangilinan as well as her party list group, Akbayan, were the result of grassroots networking of the campaign staff and volunteers who worked hard “to listen and connect with every corner of our nation.”

Hontiveros ruled out the possibility of joining the proadministration senators in the majority bloc or the group supporting the Dutertes.

She said she would rather form an “independent bloc” with Aquino and Pangilinan should the pro-Duterte senators try to form its own minority group.

In addition to Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa had said the Senate “Duterte bloc” would include Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla and Senator-elect Rodante Marcoleta.

Senator Marcos, the President’s elder sister, on Wednesday confirmed that she would join the pro-Duterte senators, a decision that may further strain her ties with her brother.

Still, law to prevail

The President’s recent call for a reconciliation with his critics and political foes will not be at the expense of accountability as he will still enforce the country’s laws to exact liability from them if warranted, according to Palace press officer Claire Castro.

Castro, an undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Office, stressed that the Chief Executive will always choose to implement the country’s laws even as he offers to mend fences with his critics and political enemies.

Allies of the Dutertes say that the arrest and detention of the ex-president and the impeachment of his daughter, the Vice President, were acts of political persecution.

They are calling on Marcos to prove his sincerity in reconciliation by bringing back the former president from The Hague, Castro said.

“The President will not commit violations of the law just for a reconciliation,” she said. “The President will not allow himself to be dictated into doing something wrong or to be controlled and kept on a short leash.”

No compromise

The Palace official made the remarks after House Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Janette Garin pointed out that while unity was important, a reconciliation of the country’s two powerful political families should not compromise accountability.

Castro said that calls for reconciliation should not come with any condition and she immediately dismissed demands that the President undergo a hair follicle drug test as another proof of his sincerity and put to rest allegations of illegal drug use.

“The President will not turn his back on the law or bend the law just to serve the personal interests of a few,” she said. “The President will always choose the law. Friend or the law? The President will always choose the law.”

“A reconciliation is for the people and is not meant to serve anyone’s personal interests,” she added. “The President wants to be on good terms with everyone for stability and so that the government won’t be sidetracked from its work.”

‘Too late’ the offer

Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, said it was “a bit too late” for the President to call for reconciliation with the Dutertes following the arrest of the ex-president and the impeachment of the Vice President.

“To the extent that the Dutertes perceive that Marcos has something to do with these two developments in their political lives, for me, there is no turning back,” Franco told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

The offer to reconcile also indicates that the Marcos administration is a “little bit worried” about the drop in the approval ratings of the President and the rise of the Vice President’s, she said.

For Franco, the election of the Duterte-backed senatorial candidates may have also prompted the President to express his openness to a reconciliation with the Duterte family, with whom he had a bitter political falling out.

But the reconciliation offered by the President may also be “a little bit of a letdown” and disappointing for his allies, according to Franco.

“Because for them, they worked hard to impeach the Vice President and some people already agreed that [former president] Duterte should be arrested. The justice secretary already appeared in the Senate investigation, so, it’s already there and seeking reconciliation would disappoint other people who actually support the President,” Franco noted. —with reports from Julie M. Aurelio and Dempsey Reyes

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