‘Lacson, Sotto formidable bets’
Former Speaker sees winning 2022 tandem
Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III are formidable candidates for next year’s presidential and vice-presidential derby, former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Saturday.
In an interview with the Daily Tribune, the Davao del Norte congressman affirmed that both Lacson and Sotto embody the “qualities and capabilities” of leaders the country needs as it continues to battle the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“I see winning candidates,” Alvarez said when asked why he decided to back the candidacies of the two.
Prior to the interview, Alvarez announced his party Partido Reporma’s endorsement of the Lacson-Sotto tandem following his lunch meeting with the two lawmakers.
Alvarez revealed that Reporma is in the process of forming an alliance with the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
The coalition will be called “United Philippines Alliance,” he noted.
Alvarez also met with UNA Founder and former Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay, UNA Secretary-General Clint Aranas, and former congressmen Monsour del Rosario and Arnel Ty.
“This is in support of the candidacies of Senator Ping Lacson for President and
Senator Tito Sotto for Vice President,” Alvarez said of the coalition.
“We have talked and mutually decided that the parties should merge. Since then, we have been meeting up and we decided to join forces so we could increase our chances (in the polls),” he added.
Aside from the duo, Alvarez also met with UNA Founder and former Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay, UNA Secretary-General Clint Aranas, and former congressmen Monsour del Rosario and Arnel Ty.
During their meeting, Alvarez disclosed that Binay confirmed to them that he will be joining next year’s senatorial race under the Lacson-Sotto tandem.
The former House chief explained that he and his party mates deliberated over their endorsement to the LacsonSotto tandem after they compared them to the other possible presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the 2022 elections.
“We decided to support the two after weighing their qualities and capabilities. Firstly, we want a leader who has the brain and capability to lead… one who is sensible and reasonable,” Alvarez said in Filipino.
“We saw those qualities in them. They are both very much capable. Their extensive experience in public service is also a plus,” he added.
He is confident that the country is “safe” in the hands of the two as the government looks for ways to respond to the pandemic and address unemployment.
The solon also vouched for Lacson and Sotto’s competency to deal with the national debt.
“We need fiscal discipline, and in my opinion, the two are very good at budget deliberations. First and foremost, Sen. Ping is very strict with budget hearings, even Senate President Sotto, he’s really good at it,” he claimed.“We have a very big debt, but the income is too low. I really see that they are both capable of fixing this,” he added.
Lacson and Sotto, however, did not rank prominently in nationwide surveys for preferred presidential and vice-presidential candidates for 2022.
Alvarez revealed that Reporma is in the process of forming an alliance with the Nationalist People’s Coalition and the United Nationalist Alliance.
Alvarez nonetheless said surveys, after all, cannot be relied upon all the time.
“If we can remember, during the time when we were still campaigning for then-Mayor (Rodrigo) Duterte, he was at the bottom of the surveys. I was with him during his campaign. I think he only got 1 percent from the surveys,” he recalled.
“But as months of the campaign went by, he ascended the surveys. So, we really cannot expect the accuracy of the surveys at this moment. Of course, people on the ground and their feelings really vary,” he said.
With his political career, meanwhile, Alvarez said he will be running for Davao del Norte representative again next year.
Senatorial line-up
With the inclusion of Binay, there are now 11 names in the initial list of the Lacson-Sotto tandem’s senatorial candidates.
The tandem endorses the re-election of Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard “Dick” Gordon, Joel Villanueva and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
They also support the senatorial bid of former senators JV Ejercito, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II and Loren Legarda.
Also included in the senatorial ticket are former Commission on Elections Commissioner Goyo Larrazabal and Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez.
Lacson and Sotto would make an official announcement on their plan for 2022 on 4 August.