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Neri Colmenares on Thursday said he would run for senator in next year's elections, his third attempt for a seat at the chamber.

Colmenares, one of 9 senatorial bets the Makabayan Coalition endorsed in the 2019 elections, confirmed his bid on ANC's "Rundown."

"I will run for a Senate seat in 2022 if only to deliver the sharpest message of critique to the candidate of President Duterte," he said.

"I’m not saying that the other senatorial candidates will not deliver on their job. We’re just saying that we’re going to contribute in the discourse to expose the lies of President (Rodrigo) Duterte."

He added, "For me during the senatorial debates or senatorial campaign itself, we have to deliver that message to explain to the people that Duterte was not the messiah he pretended to be."

While he has yet to firm up his platform, Colmenares said it would definitely include higher wages and regularization for workers, and genuine agrarian reform for farmers.

He also said he hopes to work on legislation that would better address the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

"We will treat this pandemic as a public health emergency, not a peace and order issue that Duterte treated it," he said.

Colmenares, a former Bayan Muna party-list representative and current chairman of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, finished outside the top 20 in a losing senatorial bid in 2019.

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