MANILA, Philippines — With former Sen. Bongbong Marcos and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio potentially joining forces for the 2022 elections, some personalities in the opposition urged unity among themselves to get the best chance of defeating the tandem.
“The need for a united opposition has never been more important. The task of the opposition is to unite and work with all democratic and freedom-loving Filipinos in defeating this unholiest alliance of dynasts and budding tyrants,” Makabayan chairperson Neri Colmenares said in a statement.
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Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate also said it is necessary for all “democratic, non-administration candidates and forces” to unite against the potential “dictatorannical” Marcos-Duterte regime.
“We call on the opposition to put aside their differences and forge a broad united force,” Zarate said. “We must prevent the 'mad' (Marcos and Duterte) tandem from winning as this means another dark, even darker, time in our history.”
Duterte-Carpio filed her candidacy for vice president as a substitute to Lakas-CMD bet Lyle Uy, who backed out from the vice-presidential race.
Shortly after this, Marcos’ party, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, passed a resolution adopting Duterte-Carpio as their vice-presidential candidate.
Forging unity among the various forces in the opposition is finicky, considering that some of them have had a long history of disagreements.
For example, the social democrats composing the Akbayan party have a long-standing feud with the national democrats of the Makabayan coalition, while Makabayan does not see eye-to-eye with the right-wing Magdalo group.
There have been some attempts, notably by 1Sambayan and Vice President Leni Robredo, to unify the opposition, but these have yet to succeed.