Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez. Contributed photo
MANILA, Philippines — Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez will no longer vie for a Senate seat in 2022 and will instead run for mayor of Ormoc, Leyte, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.
“[Former House Speaker Pantaleon] Alvarez just met with Lucy. She has decided not to run for the Senate and instead for Mayor of Ormoc,” Sotto told reporters in an online message.
Alvarez is the president of revived political party Partido Reporma, where Senator Panfilo Lacson sits as chairman.
Lacson is Sotto’s presidential running mate. Sotto will run for the vice presidency in next year’s elections.
“I’m now with Bebot (Alvarez), and Ping from Iloilo to Bacolod… [Speaker] came from Ormoc,” Sotto added.
Torres-Gomez was among those included in the initial senatorial slate of the Lacson-Sotto tandem.
She was also earlier being considered by the faction of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as one of its senatorial candidates under the ruling PDP-Laban.