Vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III on Wednesday (May 4) said he is more than qualified to manage the second most ranking elective post of the land.
Sotto said could serve the country well based on his competence, integrity and years of experience in government service.
‘’Let my record speaks for itself,’’ he added during a Commission on Elections (Comelec)-sponsored ‘’Pilipinas Forum a few days before the May 9 national and local elections.
Sotto emphasized that he principally sponsored 244 laws and has never been linked to any corruption issue.
‘’I have never compromised my integrity,’’ he stressed.
He said he was never absent during Senate sessions, particularly during the past two years when high Covid-19 infections forced government to issue lockdowns.
To find the truth, Sotto said the Senate under his leadership investigated several cases of questionable contracts and alleged mismanagement such as those occurring at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Agriculture (DA).
He was asked how he would recoup the expected P624 million monthly revenue loss as a result of President Duterte’s decision to stop online ‘e-sabong’ (cockfighting) operations.
Sotto said this is a pittance compared to the average P338 billion unused portion of the General Appropriations Act (GAA or national budget).
The P624-million is what an "e-sabong" or online cockfight operator remits to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) annually as Pagcor’s revenue share.
Sotto said the P338-billion not used every year could well be used to address the concerns of the poor.
He recalled that the late President Benigno ‘’Noynoy’’ C. Aquino III left a total Philippine debt of onky P5-trillion but this now ballooned to more than P12- trillion.
‘’There is a great disconnect between the national government’’ and the local government units (LGUs) in addressing the concerns of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), he added.
These could be addressed by proper implementation of laws, undertake legally-mandated ease of doing business practices and adopt the ‘’BRAVE’’ strategy of the Lacson-Sotto tandem.
BRAVE stands for Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment.
Asked how he would comfort himself as Vice President with a President belonging to another party, Sotto said he could work with the President because he is a ‘’concensus-builder’’ as shown by his comradeship with fellow senators belonging to other parties.
He said he has thus saved himself from being a ‘coup d’etat’ victim at the Senate leadership rung.
‘’They know me, and I know them,’’ he added.