MANILA – Will Juan Ponce Enrile be the first active centenarian senator?
The 94-year-old was again running for senator in the 2019 midterm elections.
His lawyer, Joseph Sagandoy, filed on Tuesday his certificate of candidacy on his behalf as an authorized representative at the Commission on Elections office in Intramuros.
“I want to join the fun,” Enrile told an interview published online.
He added: “I want to share with the people how to solve the country’s problems, which I have studied the past three years. I also want to help in the debate on federalism.”
According to Enrile, he will not be that active in appearing at rallies and will instead focus on campaigning on social media and granting media interviews.
If Enrile gets elected to the Senate for the fifth time, he will end his term at the age of 101 – which will in turn make him the first-ever centenarian senator in the Philippines.
Aside from the former Senate president, a handful of hopeful Senate returnees and first-timers submitted their COCs at the penultimate day of the filing on Tuesday.
Rep. Pia Cayetano (Taguig City) and former senators Manuel Roxas II and Jinggoy Estrada were hoping to make a Senate comeback, while incumbent Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino III was seeking re-election.
Liberal Party bets Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III and Jose Manuel Diokno were having a crack at the Senate race, too, along with Gov. Imee Marcos of Ilocos Sur, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Other senatorial hopefuls include Consultative Committee chairman Ding Generoso, University of Santo Tomas law professor Angelo de Ablan, and Jude Sabio, the lawyer who filed a case against President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court.
Eighty-eight Senate aspirants have filed their COCs as of Tuesday afternoon. Eighty-three groups have filed their certificates of nomination for party-list, according to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez./PN
