Senate President Vicente “Tito” C. Sotto III is backing his colleagues seeking reelection in the May 13 midterm polls.
The top leader of the Senate officially endorsed the reelectionist senators during their kick off campaign rally Wednesday afternoon in Tondo, Manila hosted by independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe which also doubled as her own kick-off campaign rally.
Aside from Poe, the other reelectionists Sotto supports and appeared in the rally are Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Koko Pimentel, and Cynthia Villar. Sotto is also supporting opposition Sen. Bam Aquino, who was not able to attend the rally since he was in Bicol for their “Otso Diretso” campaign sortie.
Sotto, in a short speech at the rally, described Poe as one of the “best and the brightest” senators he has worked with in his career as a lawmaker. He also called Poe one of his “most favorite” senators.
Poe is an honorary member of the Nationalist Peoples’ Coalition of which Sotto is been a long-time member.
The Senate chief, in an interview on the sidelines of the event, said he decided to attend the kick-off rally in recognition of his friendship with Poe’s late father, actor Fernando Poe Jr., and mother actress Susan Roces. “Kaya hindi namin siya pwedeng pabayaan,” Sotto said.
He also noted that Poe has been “prolific” in her job as legislator, with several bills passed into law.
Sotto attributed to his fellow senators the high approval and satisfaction rate recently received by the Senate.
“I am supporting all of the reelectionist senators simply because – nakikita niyo naman yong trust and confidence ng ngayon based on the surveys – that ang trust and confidence sa Senado has never been this high. Hindi lang tayo sa leadership, kundi dahil din sa kasama natin sa Senado,” Sotto told reporters.
Sotto said he “will stay optimistic” that the reelectionist senators will win. He also vowed to accompany them in their campaign in “important” areas. (Vanne Terrazola)
