MANILA, Philippines – Former senator Gringo Honasan is eyeing a comeback in the upper chamber after failing to win a seat in the 2022 elections.
Honasan said he is gunning for his third Senate comeback to “make a difference” and cater to “unfinished business.” He is planning to focus on measures that cater to land use, national security, freedom of information, and food security if he is again elected to the Senate.
Honasan was the first to file his certificate of candidacy on Monday, October 7. He is now part of a new political party, Reform PH.
In the 2022 national elections, Honasan ran as an independent candidate. However, he was part of the Senate slate of the former Uniteam tandem of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. He was also among the senatorial hopefuls endorsed by former President Rodrigo Duterte‘s PDP-Laban party.
This time, he is not part of the Marcos administration’s senatorial slate.
When Rappler asked if he was invited to be a guest candidate in the Duterte-led PDP slate, he did not answer directly but instead said they “have support from all parties.”
“In the first place, I’m not a member of the party. So we formed our own party para (in order to) give the Filipino people — the electorate — a broader range of choices,” Honasan said.
“Kami may platforma, may programa naman… may party discipline. Pero hindi kami naghanap ng away. Galing kami sa armadong pakikibaka… so reform, legal, and peaceful.”
(We have a platform, we have programs… we have party discipline. But we are not looking for a fight. We came from armed struggle… so reform, legal, and peaceful.)
Honasan played a key role in the 1986 People Power Revolution and was a member of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, which was formed by concerned officers of the Philippine military during the late dictator Marcos Sr.’s regime. They also continued to stage coups against Marcos’ successor, Corazon Aquino, for which he was arrested and detained. Honasan and other RAM members were granted amnesty during the Fidel Ramos administration.
When he had aspirations to be vice president in 2015, Honasan said the sins of the dictator should not be a burden of his son and namesake.
Honasan has served in the Philippine Senate for 21 years, from 1995 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2019. He was also a secretary of the Department of. Information and Communications Technology during the Duterte administration. – Rappler.com