MANILA (AFP) – Campaigning began yesterday in the Philippines for mid-term elections that could set the table for the next presidential race and determine the political future of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.
Talk show hosts, movie stars and a preacher jailed on sex-trafficking charges are among the candidates vying for a dozen open Senate seats.
While the May 12 vote will fill more than 18,000 posts nationwide, it is the would-be senators who are facing a duty few bargained for – serving as jurists in the impeachment trial of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s eldest daughter. The vice president, whose alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos has imploded spectacularly, was impeached by the House of Representatives last week on charges of “violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes”.
Sixteen votes in the 24-seat Senate are now needed to deliver a conviction that would bar Duterte from public office, including a presidential run she said she is “seriously considering”.
“The composition of the next Senate will be crucial” to the trial’s outcome head of the political science department of Manila’s University of Santo Tomas Dennis Coronacion told AFP. The Duterte camp last week put out a statement urging voters to “choose wisely who they will vote for, especially in the Senate, where the fate of VP Sara will be decided”.
That message resonated with Gina Tamayo, a 43-year-old fruit vendor, who told AFP she would not support a candidate who might vote to impeach Duterte.
“I don’t believe the allegations against her,” Tamayo said.
But Charity Vargas, 39, said her vote would not be influenced by the impeachment issue.
Yesterday’s campaign kick-off is limited to Senate hopefuls and candidates for so-called party-list seats – reserved for interest groups ranging from taxi drivers to midwives.
Electioneering will kick into higher gear next month when candidates for the remaining 254 House seats and thousands of local positions launch their bids for office.
