Better incoming senators

I’ve come across the eight names of the senatorial candidates of PDP Laban in the persons of Sen. Bong Go, Sen. Bato dela Rosa, Philip Salvador, Atty. Raul Lambino, Atty. Jimmy Bondoc and Atty. Jayvee Hinlo. Guest bets incude reelectionist Imee Marcos and Sagip Partylist Rep.Rodante Marcoleta.

The ticket has been filled with 12 wannabes who joined or were adopted as official bets of what appears to be the contending electoral party in the May 2025 polls.

Of course, the administration has a complete lineup of 12 comprising big and well-known names across the land — reelectionists, movie actors, a radio-tv broadcaster and children of an end-term senator and a former local executive. The admin bets look invincible and worth considering in the polling booth.

I am pleased by the inclusion of my friend Jayvee, or Atty. Jesus V. Hinlo, as a senatorial candidate. When then Mayor Rody Duterte was elected president, he appointed Jayvee as undersecretary at the DILG, then as a member of the board of the LandBank, and later commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.

Well, his words and actions manifestly indicate and show his idealism; without question he is a public official of honesty, integrity and competence which is a rarity in our present times. Perhaps, if 50 plus one percent of our government officials were like Attorney Hinlo, this country would be in a better situation.

Going over the proposed legislative agenda of Attorney Jayvee, he advocates to fight corruption by reviewing the Data Privacy Act and the Bank Secrecy Law as applied to public officials. He also presented to me his anti-poverty program that is centered on creating many local work opportunities for Filipinos, first, through industrialization by increasing the manufacturing capacity of the Philippines in building its own weapons, machines, technology and medicines, and second, for the government, GOCCs and LGUs to engage in state-managed farming through the utilization of government lands in agri-business and also for government to rent agricultural lands from the private sector for the creation of many jobs.

Yeah, there’s no question about the Hinlo proposals as I see their viability and sustainability in a non-inept/non-corrupt government leadership. Otherwise, everything will be a wasted opportunity. To ensure its success in strategic terms, he proposes a program to reform the education sector with the introduction of the subject, “Philippine Patriotism & Ethics Studies,” from Grade 1 to college with different topics per level, such as love of family, love of community, country and people.

While this Visayan isn’t popular among the basic electoral mass, Atty. Jesus V. Hinlo’s qualifications present this county with a good and more meritorious option for election as our next senator of the Republic.

No ‘reward system’

“No such system was ever implemented in exchange for lives lost in the government’s anti-drug campaign.”

That’s coming from Senator Bong Go as he denied allegations by former PCSO general manager Royina Garma of a “reward system” in Duterte’s anti-drug operations as he emphasized the public support for the war on drugs which resulted in safer communities.

“No such system was ever implemented in exchange for lives lost in the government’s anti-drug campaign,” Go asserted.

He stressed that the former president, a lawyer and former prosecutor, always respected the rule of law and that no directives from Duterte sanctioned senseless killings. Go expressed dismay over how the accomplishments of the previous administration’s drug campaign were now being politicized by certain vested interests.

Go reiterated that the war on drugs was not only central to Duterte’s governance but also widely supported across various sectors, with both Houses of Congress lauding the campaign during Duterte’s State of the Nation Addresses (SoNA) from 2016 to 2021.

The policy enjoyed widespread support across all sectors and people are now seeing the difference in how safe they were on the streets and in their homes.

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