section_path: Coalitions/KiBam (Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino)
section_name: KiBam (Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino)
paragraph_text: KiBam (Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino)
  
  In the 2022 Senate election, senator Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan became the only candidate of the opposition Team Robredo–Pangilinan (TRoPa) to be re-elected. After vice president Leni Robredo left office, she became the de facto leader of the opposition against Marcos and Duterte. Hontiveros joined the Senate's minority bloc alongside Koko Pimentel. She rose into prominence as she led investigations against Philippine offshore gaming operators.
  
  At a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on February 22, 2024, Liberal Party spokesperson and former senator Leila de Lima announced that the party plans to field former senators Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan (nicknamed "Kiko"), as well as human rights lawyer Chel Diokno of the Katipunan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KANP), as its senatorial candidates in the upcoming election. Aquino confirmed his bid for the Senate on May 14 after being appointed as the chairman of KANP. While former vice president and 2022 presidential candidate Leni Robredo was floated as a possible candidate, Robredo ruled out a bid for the Senate and instead announced a run for the mayoralty of Naga, Camarines Sur, though the party remained keen in drafting Robredo for its Senate ticket.
  
  Former Senator Antonio Trillanes, who ran under TRoPa in the 2022 election, proposed that the Liberal Party and its allies "set aside sensitivities for a larger cause" and align with the Marcos administration in the Senate race to ensure "obliteration of the Duterte forces". Party president Edcel Lagman was also open to such arrangement. Political pundits suggest that such a coalition would provide the opposition with more resources during the campaign but may alienate "many groups in the opposition camp who are ideologically opposed to any alliance with other political groups". De Lima disapproved of Trillanes' proposal, emphasizing the need to adhere to the party's principles as a political opposition and identity as "the alternative to the Marcos bloc and the Duterte bloc". Senator Risa Hontiveros concurred with de Lima, stating that while she respects Trillanes's proposition, such an alliance would not form a "genuine opposition".
  
  On September 20, the Liberal Party announced Pangilinan's candidacy for senator. Aquino and Pangilinan then launched their "Mga Kaibigan" (Friends) campaign on October 16 at the Bahay ng Alumni at the University of the Philippines Diliman, with Hontiveros serving as their campaign manager. At a campaign event in Bulacan, in November 2024, their campaign adopted the name "KiBam", a portmanteau of their names.