FILE PHOTO: Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez is pushing the creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience to deal with the country’s disaster response, management, and preparedness.
[Updated @ 10:38 p.m., July 21, 2021]
MANILA, Philippines — Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez will run for senator in 2022, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III revealed Wednesday.
“I just got the go signal, Congw. Lucy Torres Gomez will be in our lineup!” Sotto, who earlier confirmed his vice presidential bid next year, told reporters in a Viber message.
The Senate leader answered in the affirmative when asked if Gomez would run for the Senate.
In separate statements and interviews Tuesday, Sotto and Lacson confirmed their plan to run for the highest posts in the upcoming elections.
READ: Lacson will run for president.
Torres-Gomez, who is part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s PDP-Laban, will join the initial list of senatorial candidates under the slate of Lacson and Sotto.
Lacson is gunning for the presidency with Sotto as his vice president.
According to Sotto, their senatorial lineup will be composed of the following:
- former Sen. JV Ejercito
- former Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who is now Sorsogon governor
- Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian
- Sen. Richard Gordon
- former Sen. Gringo Honasan, who is now secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology
- former Elections Commissioner Gregorio “Goyo” Larrazabal
- former Sen. Loren Legarda, who is now Antique representative
- Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez
- Sen. Joel Villanueva
- Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri
Torres-Gomez already expressed her openness to run for senator in a television interview last month.
“Nothing of what I have or where I am in terms of my life in public service was ever part of a big plan or a great roadmap. I just move like water,” she said over ABS-CBN News Channel’s “Headstart.”
“Yes, open, but it’s not like it’s part of a grand dream or a grand plan. I have been a legislator for 11 years. If I’m given the opportunity, I know I can hit the ground running,” the lawmaker added.