Makabayan bloc mulls 12-strong Senate slate in 2025 polls

The progressive Makabayan bloc plans to field a 12-strong Senate slate in the upcoming 2025 elections in a bid to reorganize the upper chamber likely dominated anew with familiar names Including the Marcoses and the Dutertes.

ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro made the announcement in an ambush interview at the celebration of the 42nd anniversary of the educators’ organization on Wednesday night, during which she “accepted” the challenge to seek a seat in the Senate next year.

"The Makabayan coalition is planning [to form] an alternative slate… to form 12 Makabayan candidates because as of now, only the Duterte-Marcos slate is the option," Castro said in Filipino.

Earlier this week, Vice President Sara Duterte, whose sudden departure from the cabinet of President Marcos Jr. as Education Secretary further fueled speculation of a collapse in the alliance with the administration, announced the Duterte clan’s plan to seek three Senate seats in the 2025 mid-term polls.

The VP said that his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, and his brothers, Paolo and Sebastian Duterte, the sitting representative of Davao City’s first district and incumbent mayor of the city, respectively, eye to run for the Senate, with Sebastian also being prodded to seek the highest post in the 2028 elections.

Sara, meanwhile, hinted possible return as Davao mayor, a position she held for six years before becoming the second highest official of the state.

Castro had earlier slammed the Duterte clan’s effort to expand the political dynasty, deeming it “bureaucrat capitalism,” where a single-family wants to control every aspect of a nation's politics.

“Running for a government position turns into a business not only to corrupt but also to cover up their sins against the Filipino people,” she lamented.

Castro, and other members of the Makabayan coalition, have been the subject of Duterte's tirades over the years of suspicion that the group has an affair with the New People’s Army, an armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Their longstanding row further intensified after the crusade of the Makabayan bloc to strip the VP of P650-M confidential funds from the proposed 2024 budget.