Vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Sunday said members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) who opted to support other vice presidential candidates should just join the political party of the one they chose to endorse.
Sotto, who chairs the NPC, made the remark after NPC members in Tarlac, particularly Tarlac Governor Susan Yap, declared her support for the slate of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and vice presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
“Ang report sa akin, ang sinasabi (The reports that I received is), it is only the local leader, Susan Yap, who said that she is endorsing. She is not the party,” Sotto told reporters in an interview in Cebu City.
"Well, I'm very confident that the great, big majority of my party mates are endorsing me and will endorse me as vice president. Kasi if not (Because if not), well why don't you join the other party?” Sotto pointed out.
“If you are going against your chairman, eh 'di doon ka na lang sa partido ng gusto mong i-endorse 'di ba (then you should just join the party of the one you just endorsed, right). Isn't that the right thing to do?” he added.
Sotto is running alongside Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who is running for president in the upcoming May 2022 elections.
Yap had earlier clarified that her endorsement of the Marcos-Duterte tandem was a personal decision and not of the party.
During the interview, Sotto also disclosed the NPC’s presidential endorsement is still a “free zone at the moment.”
“The party is supporting and endorsing the chairman who is running for vice president and we have not yet decided on who our presidential candidate would be,” Sotto said.