Sotto clarifies Sara Duterte’s remark on ‘honesty’ issue 

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO / CATHY MIRANDA

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Saturday clarified Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s remark that honesty is not an election issue.

Sotto cited that the Presidential daughter meant that some candidates or politicians are fond of “pambobola” or fooling its voters.

“Ang ibig niyang sabihin diyan ay bola o pambobola, mga kandidato ng pambobola. That’s what she means,” Sotto said over DWIZ.

For instance, some politicians are making fake promises to voters during election season, Sotto explained.

“Mga informal settler nakatira dito intayin niyo lang ako’ pag ako naging Mayor lahat lupa sa inyo na nambobola lang yun, yun ang ibig sabihin niya siguro,” Sotto said.

On Wednesday, Duterte-Carpio said “honesty should not be an issue” as all candidates are liars anyway.

“They deliberately say false statements on stage about and against the administration of President Duterte. So lahat sila sinungaling. Lahat ng tao sa mundong ito, sinungaling (So they are all liars. Everybody lies),” she said.

The Presidential daughter said this because she was defending Christopher “Bong” Go, one of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) senatorial candidate, from allegations of using public funds for his campaign.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stressed that honesty is a basic requirement for those running for office.

“I think basic ang honesty — ang tapat sa paglilingkod pagdating sa pagpipili ng kandidato,” Gatchalian said in a separate interview with DWIZ, noting that he did not know the context behind Duterte-Carpio’s statement.

The senator added that the public needs a candidate that can be trustworthy and has no corruption cases.

“Basic na gusto ng ating kababayan na tapat sa paglilingkod na walang bahid ng korupsyon,” he said. /jpv

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