Opposition coalition 1Sambayan will reveal the final list of nominees for president and other national candidates on Saturday, June 12 in the hope of being able to form a single opposition slate to stand against the Duterte administration’s bets in the 2022 national elections.
In a statement, the pro-democracy coalition, which was formed in March this year, said that it will present the list of nominees for the May 2022 polls via its official Facebook page from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“On June 12, we begin our journey in choosing an opposition presidential candidate we will all support ‘in unity’ in the next elections. Unity is the operative word in this exercise, because we intend to consolidate our voices behind one contender,” former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, lead convenor of 1Sambayan, said.
Titled “Isang Boto, 1Sambayan: Piliin ang Ating Pambato,” the coalition said it hopes this will jumpstart the process of picking a “united choice” as the opposition’s standard-bearer.
All those whose names are on the final list “have agreed to submit themselves to 1Sambayan’s selection process,” Carpio added.
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During the event on Saturday, 1Sambayan will discuss the “entire selection process” of how they came up with the shortlist of nominees for president. They will also discuss how the coalition will pick the nominees for vice president and the Senate.
A process like this can be compared to the primaries in the United States where members of the Democratic and Republican Parties vote for nominees whom they want to be their parties' candidates in the general elections.
Carpio said that 1Sambayan will decide on the presidential position first “because it is one of the most important decisions we will ever make if we want to change the status quo.”
“Choose your champion first, then rally everyone behind that single advocate,” he added.
For lawyer Howard Calleja, one of the convenors of the coalition, the process will allow everyone who are “dismayed and dissatisfied” with the Duterte administration to pick who they like to lead them.
READ: 1Sambayan confident Filipinos will reject Duterte-Duterte tandem in 2022
“Makilahok, makiisa, at bigyang saysay ang inyong boto: ito po ang aming panawagan sa lahat. Kaya sa June 12, sa paggunita ng ating Araw ng Kasarinlan, sama-sama po nating simulan ang pagbabago (Participate, unite, and give value to your vote: this is our call to everyone. That’s why on June 12, during the commemoration of our Independence Day, let us be together in starting change),” he said.
1Sambayan has reportedly reached out to Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Senator Grace Poe, and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Of the four, only Trillanes is vocal about wanting to run as president.
The statement said that most of the members of 1Sambayan are “dissenters to many policies of the Duterte administration.”
Aside from Carpio, the coalition’s co-convenors are former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and former Foreign Affairs chief Albert del Rosario.