Bam Aquino gears up for political comeback in 2025 midterm polls

MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Bam Aquino — who abandoned his Senate bid in 2022 to run Leni Robredo's presidential campaign and earlier failed to get reelected in the 2019 elections that bludgeoned Otso Diretso — is staging his political comeback in the 2025 midterm polls with a familiar banner of championing youth leadership. 

Vowing to address people's "real concerns" amid the ruling parties' feud, the former Liberal Party stalwart now leads the country's "youngest political party" Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KANP), as chairperson, Aquino said in a television interview.

"People don't feel like they are being heard. Parties are fighting, while the issue of inflation is not being addressed," Aquino said in an interview with ANC on Tuesday.

"I think more people who want to bring back the issues to people's needs must engage and be part of the political process," the former senator added.

The KANP chairperson declared that he is "ready to return to politics" after around half a decade since his term as senator from 2013 to 2019 ended.

"We are ready and we are preparing for it," Aquino said.

Aquino said he left the Liberal Party in 2019. "Since I was a private citizen, we didn't release the information to the public," he said.

The former senator then created the KNP to bolster the presidential bid of Robredo, who ended up running as an independent candidate, Aquino added.

After Robredo's loss, KNP members agreed to keep the party alive after the flood of support during the campaign trail. 

"We may have lost, but people came out and expressed their desire for better (sic)... We saw that and did not want to take it for granted. So now we're running for 2025," Aquino said.
  
Aquino said in a press release that KANP "will present itself as a viable alternative for Filipinos weary of traditional politics and politicians."

While no longer formally part of LP, Aquino's former LP party mates, such as LP President Edcel Lagman, LP Spokesperson Leila de Lima and former Sen. Kiko Pangilinan also expressed their support for Aquino. 

The KANP is also ready to "endorse like-minded potential candidates and form alliances with political parties with similar principles in preparation for the midterm elections in 2025," its press release read.