Senate President Vicente “Tito” C. Sotto filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for vice president at the Sofitel Tent in Pasay City on Wednesday morning, Oct. 6.
He was accompanied by his running mate, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who is gunning for the highest post in the country.
The celebrity-turned-politician is running for vice president under the banner of Nationalist People’s Coalition, while his running mate belongs to another political party as Lacson filed under Partido Reporma.
In his speech after filing his COC, Sotto said that he and his running mate, Lacson, know the ills and the solutions to the country’s problem.
“We know the ills, we know the solutions: balance the budget; budget reform; bring the money to the people; enhance the fight versus illegal drugs by more emphasis on demand reduction strategy; and victory can only be achieved by God’s grace. We choose to trust Him every step of the way,” he said.
Sotto bragged of their 42 years of experience in legislation which, for him, is an “excellent track record” for politicians, and will help them govern the executive department should they both get elected.
“We offer ourselves now to the people to hold the reins of the executive department. We have been turning in legislation after legislation, there is much to be desired of how it is being executed, and we feel, we believe that if we hold the reins of the executive department, we will be able to execute it well,” said the 73-year-old Senate president.
No more unity talks
Asked about the opposition’s unity talks, Sotto said that that they did not agree on anything during their recent meeting.
“I think you just have to take the statement of Senator Drillon na walang napagkasunduan (we did not agree on anything). The ideas that were brought out during those talks, were the same ideas actually that Senator Lacson proposed two or three months ago. So that’s it,” he said.
With their filing of COCs, the Senate president said that the fate of the unity talks of the opposition is “written already.”
“Yes wala nang pag-asa (Yes, there’s no more hope). Unity is always there, we should be unified with the Filipino people. Sa amin, kami (For us), we have already started our organizations nationwide, we have already set up. We have our three political parties cooperating with each other, we might even have another political party joining our cooperative move for a clean, honest, orderly elections. It’s written already,” said Sotto.
From 1988 to 1992, Sotto served as vice mayor of Quezon City. He was first elected as senator in 1992.
Prior to his political stint, Sotto was an actor, comedian, music producer, songwriter, and bowler.