Jimmy Bondoc to push for entertainment industry welfare, anti-corruption measures

Metro Manila, Philippines — Singer and lawyer Jimmy Bondoc said he will push for measures that will benefit the entertainment industry and eradicate corruption if he secures a Senate seat in the 2025 polls.

Bondoc lodged his certificate of candidacy for senator before the Commission on Elections offsite office at the Manila Hotel on Sunday, Oct. 6. Senator Robin Padilla accompanied him during the filing.

Bondoc is running under the Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan, chaired by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ending corruption

His top priority at the Senate: curbing corruption.

“Nais ko pong gamitin ang boses na ito upang i-institutionalize ang anti-corruption, gumawa po ng isang mabisa na batas na tuluyan nang wakasan ang korapsyon sa Pilipinas,” he told reporters.

[Translation: I want to use my voice to institutionalize anti-corruption, create effective legislation that would end corruption in the Philippines.]

Asked for his reaction to a plunder complaint against Duterte, Bondoc stressed the importance of “innocence until proven guilty.”

“Ako na po bilang kaibigan niya ay siguradong-sigurado naman na lahat ng ginawa ng ating pangulo ay the best interest of the people,” he said.

[Translation: I, as his friend, am very sure that everything he has done as president was for the best interest of the people.]

Entertainment industry welfare

Meanwhile, Bondoc said that the entertainment industry, including music, should be recognized as an “economic and labor force.”

He noted that the force is yet to be optimized in the country.

“We can encourage the adoption or the creation of treaties para po tayo’y magkaroon ng pakikipag-ugnayan sa ibang bayan and to exchange talent and our music force para umunlad ang turismo at makilala ang kultura ng Pilipino globally,” he said.

[Translation: We can encourage the adoption or the creation of treaties so that we have coordination with other countries and to exchange talent and our music force to boost tourism and for the Filipino culture to be known globally.]

Bondoc was a board member of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation in 2021.