President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  and 10 senatorial candidates of the administration's Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign in Trece Martires, Cavite, on March 21, 2025. Bongbong Marcos/Facebook

MANILA — Some senatorial candidates under the "Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas" on Wednesday shared how they plan to address the low survey ranking of other administration bets less than a month before the midterm elections.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, who is seeking reelection, denied he was planning to return to PDP-Laban as he continued to lag in surveys.

Go leads Senate bets in Pulse survey

"Wala naman. Wala sino may sabi. intriga lang 'yun, intriga lang. Bakit ba ko humiwalay doon? Di ba policy differences sa China? Balik tayo doon, sa what's good for the Philippines," Tolentino told reporters.

Tolentino ran and won his 1st term as senator under PDP-Laban with an endorsement from then-President Rodrigo Duterte in the 2019 elections. He has since bolted PDP-Laban to join President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.

Both Tolentino and fellow survey laggard Benhur Abalos are unperturbed by surveys, as they put a premium on the endorsements of local government units.

Camille Villar still part of Alyansa despite reported Sara Duterte endorsement: Tiangco

"Well, ganun naman talaga ang laban in any case. Surveys are just surveys. Iba-iba nga ang surveys eh. Titingnan mo isa, iba resulta, at the end of the day, it is the people who decide," Abalos said.

"Mahalaga sakin yung mga endorsements ng mga local government units," Tolentino said.

Pacquiao for his part is not worried that he is among those at the bottom of the top 12 in recent electoral preference surveys.

Imee Marcos says leaving Alyansa over differences on Duterte arrest

"Hindi naman ako worried dahil malinis naman 'yung hangarin natin na makatulong sa sambayanang Pilipino at nagpasalamat naman ako sa tiwala din sa ating ng mga kababayan."

'IPAKIKIUSAP NAMIN'

Meanwhile, 2 of those who are ahead in surveys vow to help those who are lagging.

"Syempre ipakikiusap namin sa aming mga kapartido. As a matter of fact we have done that in the past already," former Senate President Vicente Sotto III said.

"Kaya nga kasama namin lagi. I've been telling yung mga nakakausap ko na mga LGUs na baka pwede bitbitin na rin natin, isama niyo na po sila Benhur and then si Senator Tolentino... They're lagging behind," Erwin Tulfo said.

The Alyansa candidates were in Pampanga on Wednesday upon the invitation of local officials, a past deviation where they would usually appear as a group with President Marcos in a formal and official Alyansa event.

Why Marcos vetoed bill to declare Pampanga 'culinary capital' of PH

Marcos recently vetoed a bill that would have declared Pampanga province as the culinary capital of the country.

NPC  

Meanwhile, the Nationalist People’s Coalition committed to mobilize its nationwide network to help deliver a “decisive win” for the administration’s “entire” senatorial slate, NPC Spokesperson and Quezon First District Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga said.

He issued the commitment after Vice President Sara Duterte officially endorsed on Monday one of the senatorial candidates of the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, Las Pinas Rep. Camille Villar.

On Tuesday, Lakas-CMD President and House Speaker Martin Romualdez urged leaders and members of the dominant majority party to throw their full support behind Alyansa’s eleven Senate bets, “no ifs and buts”.

The Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas is composed of five major political parties: Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), Lakas-CMD, Nacionalista Party (NP), National Unity Party (NUP), and Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Enverga said that as part of the coalition, “the NPC fully supports” Alyansa’s candidates, adding that the coalition is “not just a political alliance”, but “a partnership grounded on shared principles and united mission to deliver genuine reforms and responsive governance”.

“We would like to reemphasize the commitment of the Nationalist People’s Coalition to the Alyansa candidates... we will continuously also remind our leaders, our members, and of course our ground friends and members of the party to campaign for the members of the Alyansa,” he said.

“I would expect that the alliance leaders would be meeting siguro anytime soon to discuss the current situation... Whatever the Alyansa will agree upon, we will support fully, of course, whatever the president will decide also on this,” Enverga added.

He said he expects NPC leaders and members to meet next week and they hope to invite Alyansa’s senatorial candidates.

“The Nationalist People’s Coalition members might have the time to meet before May 12. We hope that we could also give that chance to some of the candidates. We could invite them also to reassure them (of the support of) our members and leaders,” Enverga said.

During Tuesday’s Lakas-CMD assembly, only ten Alyansa senatorial candidates showed up. Villar did not attend.

RELATED VIDEO: