(First of three parts) In the upcoming May 12 elections, Filipino voters will choose 12 among 66 candidates for the Senate for a term of six years. The primary job of a senator is to craft pieces of legislation to address policy gaps, improve existing laws through amendments, scrutinize the national government’s proposed annual budget, exercise oversight functions, among other duties.
In this three-part series, VERA Files Fact Check compiled relevant information about select senatorial hopefuls to help the electorate in making the choice.
From the Commission on Elections’ official list of 66 senatorial candidates, we narrowed it down to 20 based on the following criteria:
- Reelectionists (incumbents seeking another term)
- Returning (former senators running for a new term)
- Former government officials
- Members or are backed by major political parties
- Made it at least once in the top 20 of pre-election surveys conducted by independent pollsters Pulse Asia, Social Weather Stations and OCTA Research.
The 20 aspirants were then grouped into three – reelectionists, returning and first-timers – then arranged alphabetically.
From song and dance numbers to motorcades, Senate hopefuls have employed various ways, tactics and styles to woo voters. Some went house-to-house, others opted to address larger audiences through campaign caravans or made their presence felt on social media platforms long before the official campaign period. But where do they stand on issues that voters most care about?
In this series, VERA Files kept track of statements, advocacy, policy agenda, bills authored that have become laws and the aspirants’ consistency in their standpoint on the following urgent national concerns:
- Poverty, jobs and inflation
- Fighting graft and corruption
- West Philippine Sea
- Drug war
- Disaster preparedness
Each profile also contains the candidate’s legislative agenda, government experience or field of expertise, issues and controversies faced, relatives in government and other interesting facts. Also included are the pertinent fact checks of, or related to the candidate, done by VERA Files Fact Check and its media and academic partners in the Tsek.ph collaboration.
Part 1 of the series covers incumbent senators seeking reelection: Pia Cayetano, Ronald Dela Rosa, Christopher Lawrence Go, Maria Imelda Marcos, Manuel Lapid, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Francis Tolentino.
Know more about your senatorial bets:
