Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said Thursday, Sept. 23, that he and Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III are choosing not to mind their possible rivals and instead focus on presenting their platform for the country.
"May usapan kami ni SP (The Senate President and I agreed): as much as possible, we won’t mind or comment on the other tandems," Lacson said in a text message when asked about the upcoming tandem of Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso and doctor Willy Ong for the 2022 elections.
"Instead, we will continue to present ourselves worthy of the trust and support of our people, even after winning the election next year, if it comes to that," he added.
"We have committed the last chapter of our long public service with nothing more in mind except to uplift the lives of our people and steer our country from self-pity to dignity," he further said.
Echoing Lacson, Sotto maintained that they will not be affected by other candidates, even as he welcomed Domagoso's bid for presidency.
"We are focused only in our program and campaign. It does not matter to us on who else is running," he said in a separate text message.
Despite belonging to different political parties, Lacson and Sotto will be running in tandem next year, with a vow to bring back public trust in government and address the country's problems.
On Wednesday, Domagoso and Ong formally announced their plan to run for president and vice president, respectively, next year.
Domagoso, for his part, said he will be a "healing president".