With very few campaign dates left, member of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate are holding on tightly to endorsements and their personal convictions in the mad dash to secure victories on May 12.
Perhaps the microcosm of the administration-backed ticket had been best represented by its candidates ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo, former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Benhur Abalos, and Makati City Mayor Abby Binay.
Tulfo has been the popular bet whose earnestness and raw emotions have catapulted him atop the surveys early on; Abalos has been the highly-touted performer in the Marcos Cabinet but is just outside the "Magic 12"; while Binay has been the tried and tested local chief executive who has been consistently strong in surveys.
But the best and most accurate survey will be on Monday, May 12. A lot can still happen in the days between then and now.
Tulfo continued to consolidate support for his candidacy, as governors from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Northern and South-Central Mindanao, and the province of Zamboanga del Norte officially endorsed him.
According to Sultan Kudarat Governor Pax Ali Mangudadatu, Tulfo has provided significant help to Mindanao, especially during his time as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“There was no need to call or approach him. He would come on his own and deliver aid to us during times of calamity,” said the governor from the SOCCSKSARGEN region.
“My mother will also include him in Maguindanao because she has not forgotten that Secretary Tulfo was one of the first to call and ask what the people of Maguindanao needed during the height of the storm and landslides,” the governor added.
Meanwhile, Sulu Governor Abdusakar Tan has also expressed his backing of Tulfo, saying, “Secretary Tulfo’s assistance to us here in Sulu Province is beyond measure, even when there are no calamities, he’s there."
“His father was stationed here before, and some of his siblings were born here, so he is not different from us,” Tan added.
For Dipolog City Mayor Roberto Uy, who is currently running for governor of Zamboanga del Norte, Tulfo would be of great help to Mindanao.
“He may have spent his life in Manila and Palawan, but his heart is close to Mindanao because his father and mother, who are originally from Davao Oriental, were stationed here for a long time,” he said.
Abalos has also enjoyed a surge in endorsements as of late, with the biggest one coming from President Marcos himself.
During a campaign rally in Cebu last Monday, Marcos praised Abalos over his stint as DILG head honcho.
“Noong ako ay bagong upo, inisip ko sino ilalagay natin ng DILG. Sabi ko maghanap tayo ng mga kilala natin ang nakakaunawa sa mga isyu ng local government. At ang naiisip ko kaagad, noong panahon ‘yun, Mayor Benhur Abalos,” Marcos said.
(When I first took office, I thought about who we should appoint to the DILG. I said, let's find people we know who understand the issues of local government. And the first person who came to mind at that time was Mayor Benhur Abalos.)
Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, leader of the influential One Cebu Party, also reiterated her endorsement of Abalos during the same event.
Abalos, also former and longtime mayor of Mandaluyong, thanked both leaders for their endorsement, and vowed to push for legislation that directly responds to the everyday struggles of Filipino families.
At the top of his agenda is the removal of value-added tax on electricity and fuel used for power generation to reduce utility costs for millions of households and allow small businesses to thrive.
For her part, Binay doubled down on her pro-LGU advocacy with less than a week to go before the polls.
She vowed to push for amendments to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code in a bid to remove unnecessary roadblocks to the approval of healthcare projects, especially in rural areas.
“The Philippine PPP Code needs to be amended to address certain issues that hinder the establishment of meaningful partnerships between local governments and the private sector that can radically transform healthcare service delivery,” said Binay, who received the endorsement of fellow Metro mayors in past weeks.
She cited a provision of the law requiring PPP studies to go through the PPP Center, which delays the approval process and causes bottlenecks.
“Kung tutuusin, maayos naman ang PPP natin sa local level. Nadi-discourage tuloy ang LGUs at private partners nila. Tapos na ang termino natin, wala pa yung resulta mula sa PPP Center,” Binay said.
(If you think about it, our PPP at the local level is actually working well. But LGUs and their private partners end up discouraged. Our term has already ended, yet the results from the PPP Center are still nowhere to be seen.)
“The PPP Center should serve more as a repository of PPP information than a gatekeeper, so that LGUs won’t have to contend with unnecessary bureaucratic delays,” she added.
According to her, LGUs should only provide the PPP Center a copy of their PPP agreement and need not obtain its permission or clearance, since there are other controls in place, such as the Commission on Audit (COA).
Binay said streamlining the PPP approval processes will encourage local governments, even those with limited resources, to pursue PPP initiatives that would give their constituents better access to quality services.
She underscored the importance of PPP in improving public healthcare nationwide, citing Makati’s experience in undertaking the country’s biggest PPP initiative on healthcare to date.