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Bosita, a retired cop with a sizable online clout, was not included in past pre-election surveys, making it difficult to gauge his winnability. But when his party-list group ran for the first time in 2022, it ranked second overall.
MANILA, Philippines – Congressman Bonifacio “Boni” Bosita of party-list group 1-Rider unexpectedly filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator on Friday, October 4, running as an independent.
Bosita’s senatorial bid had been hush-hush, and he said he only made his decision a few days ago.
“As a road safety advocate, I have read that many of our fellow citizens are suggesting that I run as a candidate for senator. That is one of the major factors in my decision — the decision of our fellow citizens,” he said in Filipino.
For a sitting lawmaker, Bosita is upfront about his party-list group’s inability to pass a single road safety-related legislation during his first two years in Congress.
His fellow 1-Rider Representative Rodge Gutierrez said only its pet bill seeking to regulate the operations of motorcycle-for-hire hurdled the House, but it has yet to be approved by the Senate.
“We weren’t able to pass any laws as part of Congress. That inspired me to aim higher or run for the Senate,” Bosita explained.
To be fair to Bosita, lawmaking is never a one-person job. A congressman can file as many bills as he wants, but it takes a lot of lobbying, compromising, networking, and alliance-building — which can take years — before a measure gets out of the legislative mill.
“Our main advocacy, which is promoting the safety and protection of motorists, will be my primary focus in the Senate,” he told reporters.
“Many of our fellow citizens lack discipline, and it cannot be denied that even some of our law enforcers, including police officers, can also be considered undisciplined. This means we need to strengthen the proper enforcement of the law,” Bosita added.
Law enforcement is not the primary role of a senator, but this pitch is on-brand for Bosita, who is a retired police officer who had worked with the Highway Patrol Group.
Bosita is a social media content creator, and in videos, he is known for stepping in to prevent motorists from being subjected to supposedly unjust traffic citations.
In 2021, he figured in a public spat with then-Metropolitan Manila Development Authority traffic czar Bong Nebrija, after Bosita reprimanded a traffic enforcer who penalized a motorcycle-riding couple, one of whom broke the shoes-only policy. In 2022, he was arrested but posted bail over alleged grave coercion and usurpation of authority, which stemmed from Nebrija’s complaint.
Due to his last-minute entry in the race, past pre-election surveys did not have his name on the list, making it difficult to gauge his winnability. It is important to note though that when 1-Rider entered the party-list race for the first time in 2022, it ranked second out of 177 groups, garnering one million votes, or 2.7% of the total vote share.
Bosita’s one million subscribers on YouTube will test the power of his online clout, whether it can translate to votes that would elect an internet personality, this time to the Senate. In the 2022 elections, Senator Jinggoy Estrada got over 15 million votes in order to place 12th and win the last seat in the upper house. – Rappler.com
