Samira Gutoc on Sunday afternoon, Oct.3, filed a certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator at Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City.
This is her second time joining the senatorial race as she was one of the opposition alliance candidates of “Otso Diretso” in the 2019 national elections.
The former Bangsamoro Transition Commission member and assemblywoman is now running under the banner of Aksyon Demokratiko, whose current president is Manila City Mayor Franciso “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.
According to Gutoc, the Aksyon Demokratiko reached out to her and invited her to their political party.
“I owe, and continue t publicly claim, that I owe much who I am as a political personality to Vice President Leni and the Liberal Party,” she said in her speech after filing her COC.
“But Aksyon Demokratiko reached out at the time of the pandemic, Yorme (Mayor Isko) being the location---‘yung Manila 10 barangays from the Southern Philippines, we got to work together on outreach programs, humanitarian... I felt that our closeness in the issue of stranded, displaced, workers who lost their jobs, teachers who need gadgets--- that really resonated with me. As you know, I am from Marawi, the poorest parts of the country are in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region,” she added.
Meanwhile, she appealed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow all candidates to appear on all public forums and provide equal airtime to them.
“Due to the pandemic, I learned that key lessons are legislation, oversight, transparency, accountability are needed.”
In the 2019 national elections, Gutoc garnered 4,345,252 votes which equates to 9.19 percent of the total casted votes. Due to this, she failed to secure a Senate seat.