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February 17, 2025 | 7:08pm
Retired colonel Ariel Querubin and Rep. Bonifacio Bosita (1-Rider Partylist) meet to announce their alliance in the 2025 midterm elections on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
News5 / Mon Gualvez
MANILA, Philippines — Two senatorial candidates have joined forces in their bid for the 2025 midterm elections.
Rep. Bonifacio Bosita (1-Rider Partylist) and retired colonel Ariel Querubin announced their alliance on February 14, branding themselves the “riding-in-tandem” team, should they secure Senate seats.
Bosita, a former police officer, entered politics ahead of the 2022 national and local elections under the 1-Rider Partylist.
Formed in 2021, the party made its debut in the race for a House seat, coinciding with Bosita’s founding of Riders’ Safety Advocates of the Philippines (RSAP), which later partnered with 1-Rider.
The 1-Rider Partylist, which seeks to champion the rights of motorists and advocates for road safety, secured two House seats after garnering the second-highest number of votes in the elections.
Bosita drew public attention before the 2022 elections after confronting a traffic enforcer who had ticketed a couple on a motorcycle for violating the shoes-only policy in 2021.
In February 2022, he was arrested in Surigao del Sur on charges of grave coercion and usurpation of authority, accused of leveraging traffic enforcers for political gain, but posted bail afterward.
Meanwhile, his campaign partner, Querubin, had a wide military background. A former member of the Philippine Marine Corps, he participated in the 2017 Battle of Marawi and took part in military operations against communist rebels and insurgents.
He was previously affiliated with the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals, whose members supported former Vice President Leni Robredo’s 2022 presidential bid.
Due to this alignment, Querubin resigned from the group in April 2022, accusing Robredo of having ties to the communist movement, despite her statement that she would not form alliances with organizations that use violence.
However, the retired colonel was among those who visited Robredo’s Angat Buhay office in Naga City, Camarines Sur, in October 2024 — just weeks after the filing of his certificate of candidacy for senator.
Before the 2022 elections, Querubin was also among those involved in a 2006 coup plot against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Fort Bonifacio.
After receiving amnesty from the late President Benigno Aquino III in 2010, Querubin ran for a Senate seat under the Nacionalista Party alongside President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in that year's elections but was unsuccessful.
The 2025 midterm elections will mark Querubin's second bid for a Senate seat, while it will be Bosita’s first.
Only 12 Senate seats are up for grabs, with around 66 aspirants initially vying for a spot. However, this number has decreased as several candidates, including Willie Ong, Chavit Singson and Rep. Wilbert Lee (Agri Partylist), have since withdrawn their bids.
