Panfilo Lacson& Vicente “Tito” Sotto III

Lacson bares out plans vs Sotto

July 25, 2021 Marlon Purification 427 views

SENATOR Panfilo Lacson bared that there has been attempts to oust Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, for announcing his plan to run for vice president.

Lacson confirmed that a draft resolution penned by a member of a Senate majority bloc was being circulated among senators to supposedly remove Sotto from the highest post in the upper chamber.

“Meron gumagalaw sa mga kasamahan namin na gusto siyang palitan. Gustong magpaikot para sa signature…Siguro a draft resolution, tinitignan siguro kung aabot ng 13,” Lacson said.

The senator, who is considering running for president, said a staff member of Sotto got the information while they were touring in provinces in Luzon.

“‘Kesyo tatakbo akong VP, kailangan palitan na raw ako,” Lacson quoted Sotto as telling him.

Lacson, however, stressed that the ouster plot did not materialize as he believed that majority of his colleagues still support Sotto.

For instance, Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, called them from the United States to say that he would not sign the supposed resolution.

Lacson further said this was not the first time that Sotto’s leadership in the Senate was challenged.

In 2019, amid the lobbying for committee chairmanships for the 18th Congress, there was a reported plan from neophyte senators to oust Sotto and install Senator Cynthia Villar as the new Senate leader.

“Sa ngayon, wala kaming nakikitang peligro na mapapalitan siya. Kasi maganda yong pamamalakad niya, eh — ewan ko may nag-iisip na kailangan palitan, kasi nga nagdeklara na tatakbo. Eh hindi naman namin papabayaan ‘yong aming trabaho sa Senate, makikita naman nila ‘yon,” he Lacson said.

Lacson and Sotto will run in tandem in the 2022 polls.