Host Eliza Romero interviews special guest, progressive candidate Neri Colmenares, on what a leftist like him can bring to the Philippine Senate and the important issues in the upcoming midterm elections.
The midterm elections in the Philippines take place in a few days on May 13th. These elections are a crucial battleground because the Senate is one of the only political bodies that President Rodrigo Duterte doesn't have control over. And 12 of the 24 seats are going to be decided. These elections have no effect on the national leadership but If the result is that Duterte gets two-thirds vote in the Senate, he will be able to consolidate his power and gain complete control of the government.
Congressman Colmenares is a human rights lawyer and former member of the Philippine House of Representatives and one of the top candidates for a Senate seat in the upcoming midterm elections, which take place on Monday, May 13th in the Philippines. He's the former chair of Bayan Muna and the current chair of the National Union of People's Lawyers in the Philippines. He has been an activist since he was only 15 years old in the 1970s when Ferdinand Marcos took power. When he was 18, he became the Visayas chair of the Student Catholic Action and was later arrested after he was appointed to its national council. Later on in 1983, he became a youth organizer and was arrested by military agents and charged with rebellion. He was one of the youngest political prisoners at the time. So in total he's been jailed and tortured in captivity for 4 years. Decades later, as a legislator, he passed laws requiring reparations for human rights victims during martial law, the anti-torture law, and the involuntary disappearance act.
One of his goals is to educate young people in order to prevent another dictator coming into power, which is a real threat to Filipinos today.
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Special thanks to Mong Palatino for helping to make this interview happen!
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