Senate President Vicente Sotto III slammed Monday supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo for their "poor understanding" of her recent meeting with Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is running for President next year.
"I'm disappointed,” said Sotto, alluding to Robredo's supporters who believe Sotto pushed for the meeting for the Vice President to backtrack on her possible run for the presidency.
"That was fabricated," stressed Sotto, who has declared his intention to run for vice president alongside Lacson in next year's election.
Meanwhile, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) president and Senator Juan Edgardo Angara confirmed Monday his party would support Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio if she should decide to run for president in 2022.
"I and the party members I have spoken to have agreed to support her should she decide to run for President. We are just waiting for the draft MoA [memorandum of agreement] to formalize any agreements made,” Angara said in a text message to ABS-CBN News.
Angara made the confirmation a day after Hugpong ng Pagbabago Secretary General Anthony del Rosario told the media that other political parties have already committed their support for Duterte-Carpio should she seek the presidency in 2022.
Sotto said Robredo should not have immediately dismissed Lacson's offer of his “practical” formula for unification in the coming national and local elections.
"Ping's offer was sincere and selfless. She (Robredo) was not supposed to reject right away and instead study first the possibilities.
"Outright rejection meant they had something else in mind at the outset," emphasized Sotto.
Despite prodding from the opposition, Robredo has remained undecided if she would seek the country's highest elective post.
Lacson also said he was "quite disappointed” with Robredo’s “outright” rejection of his offer.
“It was just my suggestion. I thought of it on top of my head, so this is not solid, which means there's still variations (sic). But I was quite disappointed that it was nipped in the bud, so to speak," explained Lacson.
The senator said he was expecting Robredo to tell him to consult her supporters.
"But outright, she said ‘That can’t be’ or there was resistance immediately. I think I don’t want to pursue it, I already explained the logic, wisdom, and rationale of my proposal," said Lacson.
Lacson said he recommended that all candidates file their candidacies first in October and then withdraw at a certain point in the election race once the strongest candidate emerges as determined by survey ratings.
Lacson also suggested Sotto to be their common vice presidential candidate.
According to Lacson, his suggestion was a “practical” approach since possible candidates will unlikely withdraw their intention to run before filing the certificate of candidacy in October.
"If you withdraw before October, before filing, that’s unlikely to happen. For me, that will not happen. Why? You still don’t know who you will go up against," said Lacson.
He related that the horizon was not yet clear. "If you file your candidacy, we will know who will definitely run."
He also said that Robredo’s previous statements about considering winnability to run in the 2022 polls was among the reasons why he thought of his proposal.
Lacson said he met with Robredo in a Metro Manila hotel on July 21.
The senator said he was with Senate President Sotto III during the meeting, while Robredo was with former senator Benigno Aquino IV, her erstwhile campaign manager.
It was then that Lacson brought up his proposal: for him and Robredo to adopt Sotto as their common vice presidential bet.
Lacson said he was looking at the practical side of things when he brought up this suggestion.
In the meanwhile, with the two-week lockdown in Metro Manila expected to heavily impact voter’s registration, Senator Francis Pangilinan asked the Commission on Elections to reconsider its decision to not extend the process.
“There are now only 52 days left to register to vote. With 11 days to go under ECQ, we will lose two weeks where we could have reached more people. Given the threat of the Delta variant, we ask the Comelec to reconsider the possibility of extending voter’s registration,” Pangilinan appealed.
Comelec earlier said the commission en banc had not discussed the possibility of extending the voter’s registration period.
According to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, the filing of candidacies in October is also part of the consideration as preparing the final list of voters should have already started by then.
Pangilinan, however, hopes some leeway could be made given the pandemic restrictions.
Outside of extending voter’s registration, Pangilinan recommends that more satellite registration sites be added and extend registration hours to weekends to make it more accessible.
“We recognize Comelec’s many efforts to already accommodate the pandemic, and we believe this extension would help them too. It can give all of us more time to work around pandemic restrictions and ensure more can register safely and efficiently,” he said.
As of June, the Comelec said their 4 million projected new voters for 2022 has already been reached and exceeded, with a total so far of 60 million registered voters.
With Comelec 60 million registered voters as of June, there are still 13.3 million potential voters that are yet to register.
Voter’s registration ends on September 30, 2021.