The youngest and among the most promising members of the House of Representatives at the age of 25, Christian Señeres heard his true calling sometime in 2003 when Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla urged him to leave Buhay partylist, which he was representing, and run for a higher office.

So on October 5, Señeres filed his certificate of candidacy for senator under the banner of the Democratic Party of the Philippines (DPP), along with Greco Antonious Beda Belgica and Baldomero Falcone.

While he admits that racing against more popular names in the political arena is a challenge, the young politician claims that winning the hearts and minds of the people—besides their votes—is primordial. To him, elections are held to replace the incumbents and to introduce a new brand of politics in lieu of the old and less effective.

“Kaya may halalan para palitan,” he said in reference to what he calls the “dynamics of true democracy” and the unique advocacy espoused by DPP that is “mainstream vision driven.”

On its website, DPP states that it “is not a party-list but a mainstream vision-driven political party [and] not personality-driven like the traditional political parties owned by the oligarchs.”

“We do not want this kind of politics any more that is why the DPP was created,” the website says. DPP is probably the only existing political party that has been actively calling for the strengthening of the country’s claims over Sabah and its eventual recovery, something that makes it more palatable to the political taste of the country’s eight million Muslims.

Pro-Vita Medal
At present, Señeres claims, they already have a membership base of some 3 million nationwide, including men and women from the “underrepresented” Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

As a mainstream political party that, he claims, grows in strength and numbers by the day, the DPP may be able to field its own candidates in nearly 90 percent of all local government units in the coming elections.

Señeres was conferred the Blessed Pedro Calungsod Pro-Vita Medal for his “firm and clear stand for the fundamental truths upon which our Constitution is anchored” by Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Cebu. He was born on March 3, 1976 in Makati.

From 1979 to1985, he received his primary and elementary education at the Benedictine Abbey School (presently known as San Beda College-Alabang). In 1985, his family moved to the United Arab Emirates where his diplomat father, Ambassador Roy Señeres, was stationed and he studied in St. Joseph’s School, the Catholic school in Abu Dhabi operated by the Carmelite Sisters.

From 1990 to 1994, Señeres studied in South Lakes High School in Virginia, USA, where he received the 1992 Science Exposition Silver Ribbon, the Certificate of Merit from the Spanish Honor Society
and the President’s Award for Educational Excellence from President Bill Clinton.

He became a member of the National Business Honor Society and the Mu Alpha Theta Honor Society, graduating with top honors. In 1998, Señeres graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Financial Management from Southeastern University and became a member of the International Institute of Certified Financial Planners.

To complement his US education, Señeres enrolled in the University of the Philippines where he took courses on the life and works of José Rizal (PI-100), Philippine History (Kasaysayan-1) and Nationalism (Kasaysayan-116). He then organized the Nationalist Leadership Council, composed of student leaders from the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda College-Manila.

Señeres went back to the US and pursued his Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern School of Law, majoring in United States Constitutional Law.

Devoted to the youth
For two terms, Señeres was the youngest congressman and he prioritized development projects intended to primarily benefit the youth. He was later given later a plaque by Human Life International “in recognition of his uncompromising and unrelenting advocacy in Congress for the protection of the rights of the unborn, of authentic rights of the family, and for his fidelity to the public trust and the demands of Christian citizenship.”

From 2003 to 2007, Señeres held several positions in the House of Representatives. He served as vice chairman of the committee on foreign affairs; chairman of the sub-committee on economic diplomacy; chairman, technical working group on the Archipelagic Baselines Law; and member of numerous committees in the 12th and 13th congress. Likewise, he filed dozens of bills and resolutions of national importance. Señeres said that it was during his stint as a lawmaker that he got exposed to serious national concerns such as poverty, joblessness, political misrepresentation and the overall defects of the existing political system.

“There is injustice in the distribution of the country’s wealth. There is misrepresentation in government and there is an acute lack of across the board development,” he told the Sunday Times Magazine.

He says one can view the country as a company where the president is the boss of everyone. The Senate, on the other hand, is more like a schoolboard that puts projects only in areas where they got huge votes. “We must create jobs and equalize development. The Philippines is not only Metro Manila and most of our wealth is found in far provinces. We have an immense supply of intelligent minds, brilliant people who are untapped because there is no fair representation in government,” Señeres stressed.

The bulk of the nation’s money goes, he says, goes to the national government while the principal sources of income get the crumbs.

Principle of subsidiarity
The most ideal situation, he explained, is when the government comes in only to fill the gaps left by the local units which should be empowered to collect rightful taxes through a simplified tax collection system. “The government should do only the things that the people couldn’t. There should be leaner and meaner agencies to make the delivery of services more effective,” Señeres pointed out. This is the principle of subsidiarity. Let the smaller units of government do the work but provide them with the tools and resources—including funds—to do the job. People empowerment, he added, would only be a reality when there is fair representation.

“Nobody should be left behind. All must be represented. That way, there will be justice and fairness and the blessing of peace will be achieved if national government and those occupying positions in it reflects the situation of the entire country,” Señeres further said.

What the people need now are leaders who can give opportunities to them and that will make them become more productive. “‘Kung walang tamad, walang mahirap’ should be our new motto,” he emphasized.

Complete overhaul
It is for these reasons that DPP is advocating for a complete “overhaul” of the entire political system by establishing a federal-parliamentary form of government and the adoption of a jury justice system through peaceful, grassroots campaign. These reforms, according to Señeres, are long overdue.

These reforms are the only way the country can achieve justice and deliver itself from the clutches of “personality-driven” politics, political dynasties and the many other ills of the current system.

The DPP, he further said, will not back down “win or lose.” “We are not afraid to lose and we will not give up the fight. Our push for reforms is unstoppable,” he averred. Under the present system where oligarchy and political dynasties flourish, Señeres said that the country will only suffer further.

He noted that while new traditional political parties are formed, none of them has so far offered the most effective tool in combating poverty, or at least in making life easier for poor Filipinos. On the other hand, political dynasties only become richer while their average constituents become poorer.

DPP platform
Besides advocating federalism and the establishment of a jury system, Señeres said DDP envisions a situation where the poorest of the poor are provided with jobs and housing and the Church continues to be involved in the urgent solutions of national hunger and poverty. He said it is seldom publicly appreciated that the Church’s various branches, parishes and lay organizations form the biggest giver of charities, food and relief in the Philippines.

The DPP platform also includes: increase in the benefits of senior citizens; eradication of the national debt thru equity for debt (per Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations), availability of capital and credit to every productive Filipino family in the countryside, appointment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as marketers of the country’s exportable products, development of Halal foods and native delicacies as a national industry geared for export, eradication of graft and corruption, prosecution and recovery of stolen wealth, government financed election for equal opportunity to every qualified candidate, and peaceful negotiation for the recovery of Sabah.