Independent senatorial candidate Heidi Mendoza (4th from left) whose candidacy is being endorsed by educator Juliet Jeruta, lawyer Andrea Lizares Si, former governor Rafael Coscolluela, urban poor leader Joy Jarabelo and Bacolod Councilor Celia Flor (l-r)*
“Let’s make election 2025 an election of possibilities”.
That was the call of former Commission on Audit commissioner and independent senatorial candidate Heidi Mendoza who was campaigning in Negros Occidental on Wednesday, April 3.
She said independent candidates like her do not have the tarpaulins, billboards or paid advertisements that senatorial candidates belonging to political parties have but there is an emerging changing political landscape.
The very fact that ordinary Filipinos are coming together even if they do not know each is the beginning of a changing political landscape where it is possible to win without a machinery or money, said Mendoza, who is unfazed by the fact that the surveys do not show her in the winning circle.
In Negros Occidental volunteers that include former Negros Occidental Gov. Rafael Coscolluela, Bacolod Councilor Celia Flor, lawyer Andrea Lizares Si, former Department of Education regional director Juliet Jeruta, and Joy Jarabelo of the Federation of Urban Poor Negros are rallying behind Mendoza’s candidacy.
The magic is in the people, the candidacy of Mendoza is beginning to reflect the same kind of spontaneous response for what is right from people who don’t even know her, which we saw when Leni Robredo ran for president, Coscolluela said.
“I appeal to all Negrenses to give somebody like Heidi Mendoza a chance to serve the country in more ways than she has already served as COA commissioner,” he said.
Coscolluela said he believes that Mendoza is among the top senatorial candidates in terms of competence and has integrity and the courage to stand up for what is right.
“She is somebody who really deserves to have our vote,” he added.
Si said today’s hot issues involve the misuse of government funds, with confidential funds being paid out to fictitious persons, standard operating procedures of 30 percent or 40 percent being the rule, bridges collapsing, not enough funds for healthcare, education, and other social services.
After 27 years in the Commission of Audit, five of these years as one of two Commissioners of the COA, and then after that, as Undersecretary General of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services from 2015 to 2019, Mendoza knows how to examine government accounts and detect when funds are being misappropriated, she said.
“As witness to several landmark cases, she has risked her life and her family’s because of her commitment to her responsibility as a public auditor. Her experience as auditor gives her the background necessary for the passage of laws and policies that will ensure proper allocation of the budget, a budget that is sapat, and proper disbursement of the budget, a budget that is tapat,” Si said.
Si also noted that most of Mendoza’s avid supporters are women.
“We see in her the likes of Leni Robredo, Risa Hontiveros, Leila de Lima, the late Corazon Aquino, inspiring women with the purest motives for being in government service,” Si said.
“Let Filipino women prove to our children and the world that we can vote wisely; let Filipino women be the ones to break free of our bondage to political dynasties and politics that is based on popularity and money” by voting for Mendoza, Si said.*