Oposisyon Koalisyon's Senate bets 'hope' of PH - De Lima

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has called the eight-man Senate slate of the Oposisyon Koalisyon (OK) for 2019 elections as a concrete expression of hope that can decisively turn back the politics of hate and fear in the country.

The OK Senate slate is composed of re-electionist Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano Jr., human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, former Senator and DILG Secretary Manuel Roxas, former Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III, ex-Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, and Maranao leader Samira Gutoc-Tomawis.

"The Coalition itself is a concrete expression of hope, borne from an emerging will and a growing determination of our people to turn back the tide of hatred and the wave of terror that engulf our socio-political landscape," De Lima wrote in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 415.

"More than the individual personalities, it is what the opposition slate represents and articulates as a collective that really count for more at this time and in this place," she added.

OK, a team-up of the Liberal Party, Akbayan Partylist, Magdalo Partylist, Aksyon Demokratiko Party, Tindig Pilipinas, and other cause-oriented groups, launched its senatorial slate last Oct. 24 as led by Vice President Leni Robredo.

Robredo highlighted how the eight senatorial aspirants can inspire hope: "Tinitingnan lang natin yung walo, buhay na ulit iyong pag-asa sa ating mga puso. Tinitingnan natin yung walo, sasabihin natin hindi pa naman ubos iyong pag-asa sa pulitika. Mayroon pa tayong pagkakataon para linisin kung anumang dumi ang nandiyan."

While the prevailing politics of hate and fear can brutalize the Filipino people, the former justice secretary said she believes that it should not paralyze and subdue them as they have the power to change the course of history come next year's election.

"It can be confronted and addressed with our will and determination. It can even catalyze a common sense of purpose, unleash resistance and resolve, forge unity, and engender hope that things may change for the better," she said.

The Senator from Bicol said the Senate needs these eight leaders because they are the clear alternatives to the rotten and failed leadership of the present administration which has accomplished nothing but more deaths under its failed drug war.

"Silang walo ay kumakatawan sa kakayahan at kahandaan ng oposisyon na tindigan at ipaglaban ang mga tunay na isyu ng bayan: kahirapan, pagyurak sa mga karapatan, paglapastangan sa demokrasya at soberanya, at kawalan ng katarungang panlipunan," she said.

De Lima also urged the eight aspirants to continue unleashing a new kind of politics and learn to work with the Filipino people to secure not just electoral victories, but the bigger triumph of rebuilding the nation.

"If we are to conspire to keep the hope alive for our country and people, we can decisively turn back the politics of hate and fear. We can reverse the tide of death, destruction and disorientation in our midst," she said.