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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 11 Oct) – The Maranao lady activist who wanted to change the future of the thousands of Marawi residents who still cannot go back to their homes is running for a seat in the Philippine Senate.
Samira Gutoc-Tomawis was among the first who filed her certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections office in Manila Thursday.
The 43-year-old Tomawis will be running under the wing of the Liberal Party.
Tomawis said she and 200 of her supporters gathered first at Liwasang Bonifacio and walked to the Comelec office.
She said she was the lone candidate of the Liberal Party who filed her candidacy on Thursday.
“We had a strategy that we file our candidacy individually instead of coming in as a big group,” Tomawis told MindaNews.
Tomawis said that way, all LP candidates can be given ample time to explain their individual advocacies and platform,
“My advocacy is always the Marawi residents and the Bangsamoro people,” she said.
Tomawis was a member of the expanded Bangsamoro Transitional Council (BTC) but resigned after President Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks about soldiers raping women and his declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao.
President Duterte tasked the BTC to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which he hopes will be ratified in January. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
Tomawis has consistently championed the rights of Marawi residents to go back to their homes in several forums, even in Congress. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
