‘Not feasible’: Sotto junks possible alliance with Sara Duterte’s Hugpong

FILE Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson (Senate Photo)

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III does not see the feasibility of an alliance between the Lacson-Sotto tandem with the regional party of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).

According to Sotto, the candidates under the HNP party may clash with those from Partido Reporma, the party of former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, for local positions in the Davao region.

“At this point, baka hindi feasible because kailangan pagusapan muna namin kung sakali,” Sotto said in an online interview with reporters.

(At this point, it may not be feasible because we need to talk about it first if ever we consider it.)

“Kasi yung Reporma malakas doon sa lugar ng Region 11. Papaano kami maga-alliance dun (HNP) e ‘di may bangga ang Reporma. Madaming kandidato ang Reporma doon sa Region 11 e,” he added.

(Because Reporma is strong in Region 11. How can we forge an alliance with HNP, there will be a clash with Reporma. Reporma has a lot of candidates in Region 11.)

Last Tuesday, Lacson confirmed he and Sotto will team up to gun for the top two elective posts in the 2022 elections.

The pair is firming up its alliances with several political parties, including Sotto’s Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Partido Reporma and Aksyon Demokratiko, among others.

For the National People’s Coalition (NPC), Sotto said an alliance with HNP will “not be useful” since it is a local party.

“Yung sa HNP wala pa kaming experience. It’s a local party, it’s not a national party, hindi useful sa amin ang alliance or coalition doon,” he said when asked on the possible alliance between NPC and HNP.

(HNP, we have no experience with them. It’s a local party, it’s not a national party, it won’t be useful for us to build an alliance or coalition with them.)

Sotto said the NPC is exercising caution in building up alliances or coalitions with other political groups, saying the equity of the incumbent rule is not being followed, particularly in local posts.

“We are very careful about alliances in the NPC kasi nadala na kami nung araw [because we’ve learned our lesson from the past],” he added.

EDV