‘Vote for candidates with good track records’

As the campaign period ended yesterday, Senate President Vicente Sotto III called on the public to vote for candidates with excellent track records.

Sotto said some groups are really working to besmirch the reputation of some senatorial candidates, apparently to advance the popularity of other candidates.

“Don’t immediately fall to black propaganda. Life would have been a mess by now had we believed Bikoy. It turned out he’s a hoax, everything he said was fabricated,” Sotto said in Filipino.

He was referring to Peter Joemel Advincula, alias Bikoy, who came out and linked some members of the Duterte family to the illegal drug trade through a series of videos uploaded on the internet.

Sotto said reelectionist Sen. Grace Poe, who has been topping surveys on senatorial race, has been the subject of black propaganda these days.

“These past few weeks, Grace has been bashed. I don’t know why or where it came from,” Sotto said as he urged Filipinos to look at the records and not to believe the black propaganda.

He likened the standing of the top three senatorial candidates to a roller coaster ride, depending on the area surveyed.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, reelectionist Sen. Cynthia Villar topped the survey, followed by Poe and former senator Pia Cayetano in third place.

Sotto said track records, advocacies and other good traits should be the main considerations of voters in tomorrow’s elections.

Meanwhile, Sen. Leila de Lima has reiterated her call to elect independentminded candidates who can stand up against what she described as Duterte’s malevolent agenda and prevent him from securing ultimate hold on political power in the May 13 elections.

In her message read during the “Miting de Avance ng Taumbayan” at the People Power Monument on EDSA, De Lima said that among Duterte’s political agenda after the midterm polls is to aggressively push for a federal form of government or Charter Change (Cha-cha).

De Lima said the success of Cha-cha, which will be easy if the Senate will be dominated by the President’s allies, would allow Duterte to extend his term and ensure succession to political office of his family

She said the Duterte family is the perfect poster family for political dynasties, as it fielded all three children for elective posts in Davao in the 2019 polls.

“Our country is ruled by a handful of political families, close to just a hundred. For these dynasts, the government is a family enterprise and public service a convenient way to hold on to political power,” she said.

De Lima warned that a shift to a federal form of government under Duterte’s reign would allow political families like the Dutertes to flourish and gain more power.

“How? Because this regime is so bent on dividing the country into federal states without taking serious steps to dismantle these fiefdoms like enacting first an antipolitical dynasty law,” she said.

Re-electionist senator Cynthia Villar urged the public to be united in prayer for fair and peaceful elections.

Villar issued the advice amid reports of election-related violence and manipulation.

She expressed confidence that the public would always let their conscience guide them as they vote today for their leaders.

“We put our trust in our authorities in making sure we will have orderly and peaceful elections. We should not let the very few block the will of majority of our people,” Villar said.

She thanked the public and her supporters for including in their prayers the safety of candidates and their staff as they campaign all over the country.