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Makabayan fields biggest progressive slate for Senate race, presents 10 candidates on Heroes’ Day

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The Makabayan Coalition formally presented its 10 candidates for the Senate in the 2025 national elections in a gathering at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila today, August 26, National Heroes’ Day.

The slate is the biggest that progressive parties and organizations are fielding for the Senate, even more than Partido ng Bayan’s (PnB) storied run in the 1987 elections.

The coalition said it is also fielding PISTON chairperson Mody Floranda, Kadamay secretary general Mimi Doringo and Filipino Nurses United secretary general Jocelyn “Alyn” Andamo in next year’s elections.

PISTON’s Mody Floranda, KADAMAY’s Mimi Doringo and Filipino Nurses United’s Alyn Andamo are the latest additions to MAKABAYAN’s slate in next year’s elections for the Senate. (R. Villanueva/Kodao)

Floranda had been leading the country’s biggest and most militant transport organization against the government’s plan to take away jeepney franchises from individual drivers and operators.

Aside from campaigning for affordable housing, Doringo had been fighting for lower prices of basic commodities and better social services for the urban poor.

Andamo for her part is the nursing profession’s champion, campaigning for just wages and better working conditions for health workers in the country and abroad.

Earlier, ACT Teachers’ Party Rep. France Castro, GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) secretary general Jerome Adonis, former National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Lisa Maza, PAMALAKAYA vice chairperson Ronnel Arambulo, BAYAN chairperson Teddy Casiño, and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairperson Danilo Ramos made separate declarations of their inclusion in the Makabayan slate.

“The unveiling of the Makabayan senatorial slate is a significant step towards promoting the interests of the marginalized sectors and advancing the struggle for genuine social change in the country,” Makabayan said.

“The slate embodies the principles of nationalism, democracy, and social justice that are at the core of the Filipino national democratic movement,” it added.

Since 2010, Makabayan had been fielding two candidates at most for the Senate.

It fielded former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and former Bayan Muna and Gabriela Rep. Maza in 2010.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Casiño was its lone candidate in 2013 while former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares  was its champion in 2016 and 2019.

In the 2022 national elections, its candidates were Colmenares and KMU chairperson Bong Labog.

Makabayan’s 10 candidates is the biggest slate progressive parties have fielded in any election for the Senate in history.

The PnB in 1987 had seven organic and two guest candidates in the first ever elections for the Senate after the fall of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dictatorship the year previous.

Labor leader Crispin Beltran, press freedom icon Jose Burgos Jr., New People’s Army co-founder Bernabe Buscayno, top notch human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong, former political detainee Horacio Morales, women’s rights activist Nelia Sancho, and peasant leader Jaime Tadeo were the progressives’ candidates.

Labor lawyer Augusto Sanchez and Wigberto Tañada were guest candidates. Sanchez lost but Tañada, also an administration candidate, won.

Last July, Makabayan said it planned on fielding a full slate in the May 2025 elections.

“Our primary consideration is whether they can present a comprehensive platform that would respond to the interest of the people. The track record of Makabayan shows consistent representation in the fight for decent wage, genuine land reform, and national sovereignty,” Makabayan executive vice president and former ACT Teachers’ Party Rep. Antonio Tinio said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Fisherfolk Ronnel Arambulo announces Senate bid under Makabayan

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Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) vice chairperson Ronnel Arambulo is Makabayan Coalition’s fifth bet for the Senate in next year’s national elections.

Arambulo’s candidacy was announced this morning, August 19, by PAMALAKAYA in a program in Navotas City with the call “Mangingisda naman sa Senado!” (Time for fisherfolk in the Senate.)

A fisherfolk in Laguna de Bay, Arambulo has been a local leader since 2008, advancing the rights and welfare of the country’s poorest sector as well as leading grassroots campaigns in defense of coastal communities and fishing grounds against reclamation, conversion and privatization.

Arambulo said his Senatorial bid is to advance the agenda of the fisherfolk sector for sovereign and fishing rights. 

Pamalakaya vice chairperson Ronnel Arambulo. (Pamalakaya photo)

“I welcome the challenge of the Makabayan Coalition to be part of its senatorial slate in order for us to further advance the rights of the fisherfolk sektor,” Arambulo said.

He noted that there had been no one from their sector who dared participate in national elections, especially as the fisherfolk had been suffering from extreme poverty.

“In the West Philippine Sea, Filipinos are prevented from fishing by the increased presence of Chinese and even United States military. There must be someone in the Senate who would push that we rid of foreign military presence in our territory,” he said.

Arambulo added that he will make accountable those responsible for calamities and reclamation wreaking havoc in fishing grounds such as Manila Bay.

Poor fisherfolk from Rizal

A staunch champion of Filipino fishing rights within the territorial waters and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Arambulo worked alongside fellow fisherfolk in Zambales and other parts of Central Luzon in demanding foreign powers leave Philippine waters. 

He also led protest actions at the Chinese Consulate to denounce the Chinese government’s continuing blockade and harassment of Filipino fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea.

Makabayan Coalition’s fifth bet for the Senate in the 2025 mid-term election Ronnel Arambulo. (Pamalakayan photo)

Arambulo led the collective fishing expedition last May off the waters of Masinloc, Zambales in defiance of Beijing’s unilateral fishing ban declaration.

Last month, he helped organize the fluvial protest action off Subic, Zambales to mark the eight year of the arbitral ruling in the South China Sea.

Arambulo was a former six-year councilor of Barangay Malakaban, Binangonan, Rizal.  

Endorsements 

Fisherfolk leaders from Zambales and Manila Bay, along with environmental groups, student organizations were present at Monday’s proclamation endorsing Arambulo’s candidacy.

In a separate statement, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) expressed full support to Arambulo’s “sincere intent to run for a Senate seat in the 2025 elections.”

Fellow Makabayan Coalition candidates ACT Teacher’s Party Rep. France Castro and Kilusang Mayo Uno secretary general Jerome Adonis also personally endorsed Arambulo’s candidacy.

Earlier, Castro, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas, Adonis, and former anti-poverty secretary and former Bayan Muna and Gabriela Party Rep. Liza Maza announced their participation in next year’s national elections. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)