MANILA -- Former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said her losses in the 2010 and 2013 elections should not stop her supporters from seeking change in the “exclusive” Senate.
“We failed, not for the lack of will, because we see each vote that we received as a testimony against the dominance of the few. We were unsuccessful, not for the lack of hope, because each expression of support given to my campaign was motivated by nothing but hope,” Hontiveros said in a statement released on Sunday.
Nonetheless, she said she is not “folding banners yet” as she told her supporters to “strive harder to have an electoral system fueled not by the exclusionary politics of kinship but by the healthy clash of ideas between and among democratic parties.”
She vowed that she will still be in the picture. “I wish to assure you of my continuing commitment to be an independent-minded and principled part of the solution, a citizen who will continue to support the reform agenda of President Aquino and will not abandon the fate of our nation to the hands of the few,” she said.
Hontiveros, who placed 17th in the 2013 polls, also thanked her supporters for their help.
“Hope was and is the currency of our struggle. Nakakataba ng puso na makasama ang mga walang boses sa ating lipunan na sumigaw para sa pagbabago. Our fight against corruption and against exclusion doesn't end on election day, and we must not fold our banners yet,” she said.