Vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) will soon decide whether or not to support the presidential bid of Partido Reporma standard bearer Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
Sotto, chairman of the NPC and Lacson’s running mate in the upcoming May 2022 elections, said that as far as he is concerned, he would appeal to his partymates that the political party either support Lacson’s presidential bid or refrain from endorsing another candidate.
“Ang appeal ko sa mga partymates namin (My appeal to our partymates would be) that either we support the Lacson-Sotto tandem or don’t support any other presidential candidate,” Sotto said during the Lacson-Sotto group’s Meet the Press forum.
“It’s either si Sen. Lacson or wag na lang, kung ayaw nila, (or just don’t endorse any other, if they do not want him),” he said.
“Ganun yung magiging appeal ko (That is going to be my appeal),” Sotto said.
According to Sotto, majority of his partymates is supporting his tandem with Lacson. The vice presidential bet said he hopes to get the backing of at least 75 percent of the NPC members after their scheduled meeting next week.
Earlier the Lacson-Sotto tandem removed Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista, who are both members of the NPC.
Gatchalian and Bautista have openly showed their support to the tandem of presidential candidate former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and vice presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.