Metro Manila, Philippines – Senatorial bets Teddy Casiño and France Castro from the progressive Makabayan slate defended the need for activists in the legislative branch, explaining that the “people’s opposition” is backed by public interest.
In the third episode of “Ang Kandidato: A NewsWatch Plus Election roundtable,” both candidates slammed the Duterte administration for allegedly putting activists in a bad light, especially with supposed red-tagging efforts.
They said they also don’t have the resources to reach more voters to explain the need for activists in the Senate, and have to rely only on what they call “ground campaigning.”
“Kung connotation lang [of being an activist], usapin ng pagpapaliwanag, madali eh pero ‘yong fear, takot ng mamamayan na sila ay masangkot, sila rin ay makasuhan, ‘yong kanilang pamilya ay gigipitin din, ‘yon ang isa pang napakalaking challenge,” said Casiño, a former Bayan Muna Party-list representative.
[Translation: It’s easy to explain and counter the connotation of being an activist, but one of the biggest challenges is to end the fear that the public will be involved with activists, their families harassed.]
Castro said reforms in the country were also introduced by “mulat at aktibista [educated and activist].”
“Hindi kami nagpayaman, hindi namin ginagamit ang pwesto namin para sa sariling interes, do’n makikita ng taumbayan na ang aktibista ay talagang subsuban din sa pagtatrabaho,” said the incumbent ACT Teachers Party-list representative.
[Translation: We did not enrich ourselves, we did not use our position for personal gain. The public can see that activists are dedicated to their work.]
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