Party-list bloc seeks Senate seat, backs Villanueva’s candidacy

Congressmen representing marginalized sectors have merged into a formidable bloc at the House of Representatives. Now, the 56-member bloc appears bent on taking measures to gain one of the 24 Senate seats.

With a national election just ten months away, the bloc has not secured the passage of a bill that amends laws governing party-list representation and the Senate as an institution.

Thus, party-list congressmen have vowed to support the senatorial bid of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) executive director Joel Villanueva, himself a former party-list congressman, in the 2013 mid-term elections.

In pushing Villanueva’s Senate bid, Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera said she herself is convinced that their bloc won’t be able to pass electoral reform bill which allocates a Senate seat for the party-list group with just five working months left before members of both chambers tackle the 2013 mid-term election.
Admitting they were short in preparations, Herrera said they were backing Villanueva who possessed “a work attitude geared on pushing legislative measures seen benefiting the marginalized sectors.”

Yacap Rep. Carol Lopez hinted of an actively vocal party-list conduit representing them in the Senate should Villanueva make it, with the Tesda chief assured of the assistance of 56 incumbent party-list solons and the votes of one of the country’s biggest religious group where he and five million other members belonged.

“Standing on a common denominator of being representatives of the marginalized sectors, we decided to make the marginalized Filipinos a formidable bloc in Congress by taking on the Senate through a senatorial candidate seen to speak in behalf of sectors least heard or given attention,” says Ako Bicol Rep. Pido Garbin, who also described Villanueva as a genuinely sincere public servant.

Villanueva is among President Aquino’s early preferences for inclusion in the Liberal Party’s (LP) 2013 senate slate, despite the fact that the Tesda chief has not joined the LP. Justifying his pick, Aquino said Villanueva appeared fit and qualified to become a member of the Senate, where he could formulate bills that would ensure the global competitiveness of Filipinos.

“Now talking as one, the House party-list bloc is solidly behind Villanueva and a bid to send him to the Senate not just as a party-list conduit but the voice of the marginalized Filipinos,” Alagad Rep. Rodante Marcoleta said.

PDP-Laban chairman Sen. Aqulino Pimentel III, who is expected to forge an agreement that would number him among the LP’s 2013 senatorial bets, likewise cited the need for young and energetic faces in the Senate, apparently referring to Villanueva whom he described as firm and principled aside from being a good legislator. –Fernan J. Angeles, Daily Tribune