Vice-presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III is more than prepared to face his rivals in upcoming debates.
He said it will give him a better chance to lay out his plans alongside running mate Sen. Panfilo Lacson to uplift the lives of the Filipinos.
This coming Saturday, CNN Philippines will host a vice presidential debate with seven candidates confirming their attendance — Sotto, former Rep. Walden Bello, Manny SD Lopez, Rizalito David, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Carlos Serapio, and Dr. Willie Ong.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Rep. Lito Atienza will not attend the event.
On Sunday, the same network will host a presidential debate with nine of the 10 candidates expressing their willingness to participate. They are Lacson, Leody de Guzman, Ernesto Abella, Jose Montemayor Jr., Norberto Gonzales, Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, Faisal Mangondato, Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, and Vice President Leni Robredo.
Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is the only presidential candidate to skip the debate citing conflict of schedule.
Meanwhile, Sotto said he has been hinting as early as August last year what he and Lacson intend to do to improve the lives of Filipinos, even if they had not yet formally announced their plan to join the May elections.
Sotto and Lacson officially announced their intent to join the May elections on September 8, 2021 or a month before filing their certificates of candidacy.
“This has been going on for months already. We have been telling the people what our plans are for the people as early as August 2021. That’s why I am glad that our opponents have been also saying what we said. They are echoing are advocacies,” Sotto said.
Presidential hopeful Lacson said debates bring out the true character of a candidate especially when asked abrupt questions.
Aside from knowledge, he said debates and forums bring out character, especially in abrupt questions.
“When we were shown a picture of Malacanang, the first thing that came to my mind was ‘public servant’…Somebody said ‘seat of power’, while another said ‘Palace’. It is here that we can see the instinctive thinking of a person once you him or her a picture,” Lacson said.