President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. witness the signing of alliance between the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and National Unity Party (NUP) at a ceremony dubbed "Alyansa Para Sa Bagong Pilipinas" at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City on June 29, 2024. Niño Jesus Orbeta, PPA pool

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday urged politicians to form alliances "based...not on political expediency but on ideology," as his Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) inked its third cooperation agreement for the 2025 midterm elections, this time with the National Unity Party (NUP.)

The party, organized in 2010, says on its website that its "principal advocacy is unity, the basic ingredient for peace and development in the country." It has been affiliated with the political administration since the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.

Marcos Jr. underscored that while politicians “cannot deny there is truth” to observations that political parties are now gearing for the 2025 elections, politicians should ensure that alliances are “not a marriage of convenience.”

READ: ‘Opposition’ figures must have alternative policies, clear positions on issues — De Lima

“This is not an easy route. There will be many times that political forces will intrude upon that and that is life, that is — iyan ang buhay ng politiko (the life of politicians),” he said.

“Of course, we dream and there are principles that we uphold but of course, there are political forces that get in the way, but that is the whole point of these alliances that we are making,” he said.

Marcos Jr. said that the alliances will help political factions and personalities manage differences "without going to extreme — like moving away from the party, running as independent, having... allies fighting against each other politically."

The President did not mention specific personalities but Vice President Sara Duterte — his 2022 runningmate and other half of the so-called “UniTeam” coalition — departed from administration earlier this month without explaining her resignation from key posts in the Department of Education and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Duterte also said that three of her immediate relatives — former President Rodrigo Duterte, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao Mayor Sebastian Duterte — supposedly plan to run for senator in the 2025 elections. The three have not commented on their supposed political plans.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, NUP president, said the supposed Senate run is "just a thought", with only one Duterte eventually filing candidacy papers for senator.

"If you're talking about one family, it's better to push for one family name as against three members," he said, adding Vice President Duterte's announcement was meant to get people talking about it.

"It's a tactic definitely," he said.

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UNITY AFTER UNI-TEAM BREAKUP

Even with Duterte’s exit from the Marcos Jr. Cabinet, the President maintains that unity is still the “ideology that we are espousing.”

“We speak now of unity. We speak now of Bagong Pilipinas, bringing the country, transforming the country to another place, to a better place than we had found it,” he said.

“Unity is in fact our ideology. That is what has brought us together. We do have ideals. This is not just to win the next election. This is to make the Philippines a better place, and that is what we are doing here,” he said.

Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas — which is now composed of the PFP, NUP, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) — is in the process of discussing its shortlist of senatorial candidates, Villafuerte told reporters on the sidelines of the event.

The NUP is expected to endorse between six to eight candidates to be included in the administration slate, Villafuerte said. The candidates will not necessarily be from the party.

Villafuerte said he is also open to accepting opposition figures in the administration’s midterm ticket for “more alliances, agreements, unity to push for agenda like Bagong Pilipinas for a better Philippines.”

READ: LP may have points of unity with new admin alliance — analyst

MAINSTREAM OPPOSITION: NO ALLIANCE WITH MARCOS JR. ADMIN

Sen. Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan Party has already rejected the proposition floated by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV for the opposition to coalesce with the Marcos Jr. administration to "galvanize the unity of all the sectors who are not with the Dutertes."

Former Sen. Leila De Lima, speaking on Teleradyo Serbisyo, said Saturday that she understands where Trillanes is coming from.

"Kaya lang po, sa Liberal Party sa ngayon hindi po namin 'yan plano. Wala po kaming plano na ganyan. Dahil nga po oposisyon kami, kami ang tunay na oposisyon," she said, referring former presidential spokesperon Harry Roque's claim that Vice President Duterte is now the leader of the opposition.

(However, the Liberal Party does not have plans (to join the administration). We have no such plans. Because we are the opposition. We are the real opposition.)

She said the LP is inclined to work with Akbayan to present a slate that will compete with the candidates that the Marcos and Duterte camps will field in 2025.

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