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VERA FILES FACT SHEET: What you need to know about the senatorial candidates

Part 2 of the series covers two former senators – Antonio Trillanes IV and Antique Rep. Loren Legarda – and three incumbents – Joel Villanueva, Migz Zubiri and Risa Hontiveros – who are trying to regain or retain seats in the chamber.

By VERA Files

Apr 26, 2022

11-minute read
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(Second of seven parts) In the May 9 elections, Filipino voters will choose 12 among 64 candidates for the Senate for a term of six years. The primary job of a senator is to draft proposed laws addressing policy gaps, amend existing laws, scrutinize the national government’s proposed annual budget, and exercise oversight functions, among other duties.

In this seven-part series, VERA Files Fact Check collated relevant information on select senatorial hopefuls to help the electorate choose their candidates.

From the Commission on Elections’ 64 official senatorial candidates, we narrowed down  the list to 31 under the following categories:

  • Reelectionists
  • Former government officials
  • Members of major political parties or candidates either backed by them or by the top presidential and vice presidential tandems
  • Candidates that have made it at least once in the top 20 of pre-election surveys of independent pollsters Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations.

The 31 candidates were then grouped based on their Senate experience – those with and those without –  and arranged alphabetically.

Each profile contains the candidate’s legislative agenda, government experience or field of expertise, issues and controversies faced, relatives in government and other interesting facts. Also included are the pertinent fact checks of, or related to the candidate, done by VERA Files Fact Check and its media and academic partners in the Tsek.ph collaboration.

Part 2 of the series covers two former senators – Antonio Trillanes IV and Antique Rep. Loren Legarda – and three incumbents – Joel Villanueva, Migz Zubiri and Risa Hontiveros – who are trying to regain or retain seats in the chamber.

Know more about your senatorial bets:

Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros

 

Lorna Regina “Loren” Legarda

 

Antonio Trillanes IV

 

Emmanuel Joel Jose Villanueva

 

Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri

Check out other senatorial bets: Part 1Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6, and Part 7

Editor’s note: This series was produced with the help of two students of the University of the Philippines Baguio as part of their internship at VERA Files.

Have you seen any dubious claims, photos, memes, or online posts that you want us to verify? Fill out this reader request form.

 

Sources

Hontiveros

  • ​​Risa Hontiveros Official Website, About Risa, n.d.

Legarda

Trillanes

Villanueva

Zubiri

 

(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)

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