Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Thursday clarified that the Nationalist People’s Coalition will not field its own candidates for senators in the coming midterm elections in May next year.
In a news briefing, Sotto said that the NPC does not have any intention of putting up its own lineup.
“We are going to support a number of senatorial lineups. Others will call it— like senatorial lineup. But for us, we will have a list of senatorial candidate that the NPC will support. It means, in the NPC-controlled areas, our governors, mayors, councilors, will be very accommodating in campaigning for these senatorial candidates,” Sotto said.
The NPC has 2,116 elected officials composed of three senators (Senators Grace Poe, Chiz Escudero and Sotto), 25 members in the House of Representatives, eight governors, seven vice governors, 105 board members, 21 city mayors, 22 city vice mayors, 218 city councilors, 176 municipal mayors, 157 municipal vice mayors and 1,362 councilors.
On Wednesday, Sotto released the names of 13 possible contenders for senators whom they will support in next year’s election. They include Poe, Cynthia Villar (Nacionalista Party), Nancy Binay (UNA), Sonny Angara (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino), Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (PDP-Laban) and JV Ejercito who are all seeking reelection.
Sotto said also belonging to the NPC senatorial slate are former senator and now Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid and former Police chief Ronaldo “Bato” dela Rosa.
He said Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and Senator Bam Aquino, another reelectionist who belongs to the Minority Bloc in the Senate, might also be considered as NPC members although there is no final decision yet on the matter.
“He [Aquino] said there is a possibility that we will talk so everybody will agree. It is also likely that both of them will be included,” he said.
The names of the 15 senators who will be endorsed and supported by the NPC, Sotto said, came from majority of the NPC members.
“Yes, I have mentioned the names of those cited by a number of members of the NPC. They are willing to support these candidates. We will formalize [it] after the filing of the CoC [Certificate of Candidacy]. It’s not ideal for us to keep on mentioning names and then later, they will not run. So we rather to come up with final list after the filing of CoC. The names that I have been mentioned yan ang susuportahan,” Sotto said.
Asked what kind of support the NPC will give to the candidates, Sotto said that members of the party from the LGUS will campaign for the senatorial candidates. He added that the ‘senatoriables’ can also use the party’s political rallies and other gatherings as venue to air their platform and woo voters to support their candidacy.
However, he said matters involving finances and logistics were not discussed as a form of support for the chosen senatorial bets.
Sotto added that while they have an alliance with the ruling PDP-Laban, the NPC might have or might not have an alliance with other political parties of the other candidates, saying that this is “not necessary.”
“Ibang usapan yan, di kasama sa alliance yon. We are in alliance with the administration-PDP-Laban in the way of running the government, but not particularly in the elections,” he said.