Sotto assured of NPC support, leadership

Senate President Vicente Sotto III –(Photo from Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s office)

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III, chair of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), on Sunday denied that his party had abandoned him and jumped ship to the “UniTeam” ticket of former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“We are the leadership,” Sotto told journalists in a Viber message, stressing that the party’s founder, deceased tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. entrusted the party to him and Cojuangco’s trusted ally Ramon Ang, now president of San Miguel Corp., could attest to that fact.

The Senate leader also shared with the Inquirer a message from NPC secretary general Mark Llandro Mendoza sent to its members: “We would like to clarify that the leadership and the party is fully supporting our [chair], SP Tito Sotto, for vice president.”

No prexy bet

The NPC, one of the country’s largest political parties, has not endorsed any presidential candidate, including Sotto’s running mate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who used to carry the Partido Reporma banner but is now an independent after the party switched allegiance to Vice President Leni Robredo.

Sotto made the remarks in a series of Twitter posts on Sunday morning amid speculations that NPC was officially supporting Marcos and his running mate Mayor Sara Duterte, after party members in Tarlac, led by Gov. Susan Yap, declared support for Marcos and Duterte in a UniTeam campaign sortie on Saturday.

‘Personal decisions’

But the governor, including her brother and fellow party member Rep. Victor Yap, clearly said the endorsement was their “personal decisions” and not that of NPC.

Lacson chimed in, saying Yap “couldn’t have said it more clearly: she alone supports another tandem and does not impose on her party mates and constituents.”

“As we often tell each other, there are dynamics in this campaign that we cannot comprehend, much less control,” he said.

On Saturday, Marcos and Duterte talked with local and sectoral leaders in a meeting organized by the Yap siblings. The meeting was not open for media coverage.

In a press statement, the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) of Duterte said leaders of NPC in Tarlac had endorsed her and Marcos.

The Lakas statement said the Yap siblings had given party members and their allies in the province the freedom to choose whom to support for president and vice president.

According to Lakas-CMD, Rep. Yap said the NPC-Tarlac chapter and its political allies had decided to back the UniTeam candidates.

“Yes, we the provincial NPC and those others [affiliated or not] support the [Marcos and Duterte] tandem,” Yap said as quoted by the Lakas-CMD.

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