Although unlucky to win the 2019 senatorial elections, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno considers it a good experience for him to run under the Otso Diretso coalition.
In the upcoming Election 2022, Diokno announced that he is a candidate, but he has not yet said what position.
His name is included in the opposition coalition’s choice of 1Sambayan as the presidential and vice-presidential candidate.
Also on the list are Vice President Leni Robredo, former Senator Grace Poe, former Senator Antonio Trillanes, CIBAC party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva and Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto.
In an interview with Malou Mangahas, Diokno believes that the 2022 elections will be “a different ball game.”
“Ako nakikita ko sa 2022, it’s a different ball game kasi there are other aspects of the election. It’s not only going to be a question of machinery. There are hidden dimensions, I believe, that will be very important in 2022,” Chel Diokno said.
“Unang-una, syempre, di ba, sabi natin the election is the will of the people at palagay ko maririnig natin ‘yung boses ng taong bayan sa 2022,” he added.
Chel Diokno: Voice of youth must be heard in Election 2022
Based on his experience in the 2019 election, Diokno said the opposition should not rely on the same tactics then.
“You have a very popular president and even up to now, while he has lost some of his support, malakas pa rin siya. You have local governments that would like to be supportive of him and doon kami nahirapan actually nung panahon na ‘yun,” he admitted.
He said that the battle in the election was “air and ground”, and Otso Diretso lost to those two.
“Sa air war, usapin ng pera ‘yan eh. Kung wala kang pangbayad ng mga advertisement at yung kalaban naman ay sobra-sobra ang pera makapaggawa… talagang disadvantage kami doon,” he explained.
“Pagdating naman sa ground war, eh, kailangan may suporta na… nanggagaling sa baba and, again, for us newbies dito sa politika ay it was a very good learning experience,” Chel Diokno added.
Diokno added that this is the time when the voice of the youth should be heard.
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