Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III. Senate PRIB file photo / Voltaire F. Domingo and Henzberg Austria
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday left it to God the results of the coming elections following claims that death of former President Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III can affect the outcome of next year’s polls.
“God’s will be done, FVR (Fidel Ramos), ERAP (Joseph Estrada), GMA (Gloria Arroyo), PRRD (Rodrigo Duterte) all won with no one dying,” Sotto told reporters after he was asked what he thought of the speculation that Aquino’s death may benefit a political group.
Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon claimed that the death of Aquino would reshape the 2022 elections and could be a positive driver for the scattered forces opposing the Duterte administration.
Even Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in an eulogy dedicated to Aquino on Saturday that the “best eulogy tribute” is to recover and preserve the decency of the country’s leaders, adding that the flags flown at half-mast are not only for the dead president, “but for the dying decent governance.”
The elections itself is a collision of two evident forces, the ones who ally themselves to President Rodrigo Duterte and those who brand themselves as the symbol of the opposition.
A coalition was even formed by the opposition, the 1Sambayan, to present a single slate of national candidates that will challenge candidates fielded by the Duterte administration in the 2022 national elections.
Aquino passed away in his sleep on Thursday morning due to renal disease secondary to diabetes.
He served as the Philippines’ 15th president from 2010 to 2016.
He was laid to rest next to his parents—former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino on Saturday afternoon at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.
He was 61.