Statement of Sen. Francis Pangilinan on election day

The fight for truth and for right has reached today, the midterm elections.

This, our people's fight, is just one of many since 2016: the killings of suspected drug users and small-time pushers; the burial of the dictator in the heroes' cemetery; the threats to our Vice President; the oppressive price increases of fuel and food; the arrest and detention of Sen. Leila De Lima; the onerous, unnecessary debts from China; the return of death penalty; the baseless unseating of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno; the criminalization of child offenders; the illegal pork barrel; the attempts to arrest and detain Sen. Antonio Trillanes; and the giving away of our islands and seas and jobs and government projects to the Chinese.

Ang dami no? May mga panalo tayo dyan, may mga medyo panalo, may mga talo.

Lahat yan, laban ng bayan, may partisipasyon ng taumbayan. All are attacks on our democracy and freedoms, on the poorest and the most powerless, and those who defend them.

Today is election day and regardless of the outcome, we have already won: eight candidates with sterling track records have offered themselves as our gladiators in this election battle; Catholic bishops and lay leaders have openly supported us; and tens of thousands, including young people and artists (new YouTube sensations and mainstream marvels), have wholeheartedly volunteered their time, talent, and money, going house to house, designing and printing their own campaign materials, writing and singing their own campaign jingles, shooting and uploading their own videos.

We have flexed our democratic muscles and we know our strength.

And all these are what we will take in the next battles, because there will be more. But then, there will be more of us amongst our ranks as well.