By Hannah Torregoza
Opposition Senator Leila de Lima on Friday said the Senate undoubtedly needs courageous leaders like Magdalo party list Representative Gary Alejano.
Magdalo Party-List Representative and senatorial candidate Gary Alejano
(OSTO DIRETSO / MANILA BULLETIN)
De Lima said she can vouch that Alejano, a senatorial candidate of the “Otso Diretso” opposition slate, can courageously defend the Filipino people and uphold the country’s sovereignty against foreign invaders like China.
“During this time of chaos, we need leaders with extraordinary courage to speak truth to power. We need Gary Alejano who has the will to reclaim our national dignity and fight for our sovereignty,” de Lima said in a statement.
“Magiting na sundalo. Ipagtatanggol ang dangal ng Pilipinas at Pilipino. #5 Alejano”, the former justice secretary said as she pitched for the former soldier’s senatorial bid in the upcoming 2019 midterm elections on May 13.
Alejano is one of the most vocal critics of Duterte’s lax policies toward China and a part of the independent minority bloc at the House of Representatives.
He hogged the headlines in 2017 for being the first lawmaker who dared file an impeachment complaint against Duterte for betrayal of public trust, bribery, and other crimes in relation to the former mayor’s involvement in the state-sanctioned killings in the war on drugs and his positions on the West Philippine Sea.
The senator said Alejano belongs to the unique breed of courageous leaders whose moral courage is considered as a rare commodity in the Philippines.
“We need leaders who have the will and capacity to confront the powerful, and the imagination and ability to lead the powerless,” she said.
As a former soldier, de Lima said she is certain Alejano will not shirk in his responsibility to the people, even if he has to make decisions on the basis of conviction not expediency or political survival.
“We badly need such leaders in this time and place. We badly need Gary Alejano at the Senate,” de Lima stressed. #MatalinongBoto2019