Run, Leila, run

As the Oct. 1 to 8, 2024 period for the filing of certificates of candidacy for next year’s elections draws near, those who are interested in a Senate seat are now emerging from the shadows. Obviously, the two main protagonist groupings are those allied with the Marcos and the Duterte camps.

From the statements of ruling administration stalwarts, the Marcos camp will field the following: Manny Pacquiao, Benhur Abalos, Francis Tolentino, Bong Revilla, Erwin Tulfo, Tito Sotto, Ping Lacson, Lito Lapid, Abby Binay, Pia Cayetano, Imee Marcos, and Camille Villar.

On the other hand, words emanating from leaders of the Duterte camp point to the following as either certain or very likely candidates: Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa, Philip Salvador, Rodrigo Duterte, Paolo Duterte, and Sebastian Duterte.

The potential candidates have chosen their camps, not because of anything else, but solely because the vast powers and resources of government are currently wielded by one camp, while those on the other side were the biggest beneficiaries when the said camp used to be the ruling power. If it were the reverse, those who are on the side of the Marcos camp would instead be on the side of the Duterte camp. In other words, the candidates of the two contending camps are indistinguishable when it comes to core issues.

With the ongoing war of attrition between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, and with the Marcoses wielding the upper hand courtesy of their monopoly of the levers of power, the sins of the Duterte administration are bound to be exposed in all their reprehensible details. The Marcoses cannot go halfway in this regard, because to do so will only increase the chances of the Dutertes to return to power and exact the mother-of-all vengeance against the Marcoses.

From the way things are going, the muckraking between the two warring camps will reach a crescendo during the election campaign season. In fact, the surest way for the Marcoses to gain bigger edge with the electorate, is to juxtapose themselves against the Dutertes by digging up and exposing the crimes, scandals, and irregularities committed by the latter and their minions. When the Marcoses do so, those who suffered during the Duterte reign of terror will inevitably be in the limelight. And the person who suffered severely, the most prominent Filipino who bore the brunt of the Duterte brand of inhumanity, is none other than former senator Leila de Lima.

De Lima spent six years and eight months in prison (or 2,454 days), almost a year shy of the seven years and seven months that the late Ninoy Aquino spent in prison. She was removed from her Senate committee chairship, humiliated with her private life exposed, implicated in fabricated crimes by drug felons who were forced to falsely testify against her, and not allowed to attend the graduation of her son from law school. She will articulate a powerful and stinging narrative against candidates who served as willing accomplices in her persecution.

However, the word emanating from the mainstream opposition is that De Lima has begged off from running for the Senate next year, and that only Bam Aquino, Kiko Pangilinan, and Chel Diokno are seriously considering doing so. It will be a strategic mistake if De Lima does not seize the moment. As the Marcoses and the Dutertes engage in mudslinging, the Marcos candidates will get hit with heaps of the flying mud because almost all of them either cheered or genuflected in agreement while the Dutertes run amok all over the country.

The run-up to next year’s election is the short slice of perfect time—a fleeting, ideal moment—for De Lima to get the nation’s attention as she narrates the evil deeds committed by the Dutertes against her and against the entire nation. After next year’s elections, the injustices that De Lima suffered will be stale news in the brief memory and short attention span of the Filipino electorate. Aquino, Pangilinan, and Diokno were admirably consistent in their opposition against Duterte, but De Lima is a notch higher because she endured untold suffering under the Dutertes.

De Lima will be foremost in the minds of voters who detest the Dutertes. With the ongoing demolition of the demigod statues the Dutertes erected for themselves, the numbers of those who loathe them should now be more than the 15 million voters who supported then Vice President Leni Robredo. The “pinklawan” voters remain a solid electoral block, with tremendous logistical resources, and they will be in search of a candidate who embodies the qualities they saw in Robredo. From the roster of potential candidates in the 2025 senatorial elections, it is De Lima who comes closest to the mold. She’s the ideal candidate in the coming elections, without the necessity of an invented or embellished persona, because all she needs is the right framing.

Leila de Lima will squander her date with history if she does not seize the day in the next elections. Run, Leila, run.

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