For the sake of putting end to the Duterte brand of governance, various opposition groups have been asked to be “open to all formulas” that could lead to unification.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate aired this appeal in reaction to the reported outright rejection by Vice President Leni Robredo of the “unification formula” suggested by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Lacson and Robredo are believed to eyeing the presidency in the 2022 national elections.

Lacson has chosen Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III of the Nationalist People’s Coalition as his runningmate.

"All possible unification formulas should be explored to come up with the best candidates against the administration," said Zarate as he appealed to all opposition groups to give a united opposition a chance to defeat Duterte’s candidates next year.

"Members of the opposition should continue communicating with each other because what is at stake here is not just the interest of one group or coalition, but this is the survival of our country," said Zarate.

He stressed: "We can no longer take for another six years of this kind of governance that we have now under the Duterte administration.”

While Zarate believes that Robredo had a valid point in turning down Lacson’s proposal, he stressed that “this is an electoral process and we are in a very precarious position.”

“I think this is the first election we will face that we are in the middle of a pandemic and we must study all available options to unite the opposition to have better chances of winning in the upcoming elections," said the top Lower House oppositionist.

"Also we in the, Makabayan bloc has not yet decided on the opposition candidates that we will back for 2022, but we will conduct our own congress by September where we hope to reveal our chosen candidates for presidency up to the Senate," he stated.