‘Tired’ Sotto eyeing retirement from politics

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III (File photo by CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — Saying that he is “tired”, Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday stressed that he has no political plans at the moment and is even thinking about retiring.

“Well, I have plans of retiring. I have plans for other things other than politics. Right now, I have no political plans,” Sotto said in an interview on CNN Philippines when asked about his political plans.

Sotto said that he has served as a senator from 1992 to 2004, and from 2010 to 2022. By 2022, he would have served a total of 24 years as a senator.

Further, the Senate President said that he also served four years in the local government of Quezon City and another two years in the executive department.

“I am tired,” Sotto said.

But Sotto likewise said: “Who knows? Sabi sa Tagalog, ‘magsalita ng tapos’ so let’s leave it at that. I have no plans at the moment.”

The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Sotto added, has yet to discuss plans for the 2022 elections especially following the death of its founder, former ambassador Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr.

“Ang usapan namin, after 40th day [ng death] niya, we’ll set up a meeting and discuss the future of the party,” Sotto said.

(What we discussed was we will set up a meeting to tackle the future of the party after Cojuangco’s 40th day of death.)

“We will try to make it as strong as it has been since 1992. We’re the only political party that is strong enough that we did not have a president from 1992 to the present but we were always second best. We were always number 2 to the sitting political party,” he added.

“NPC has always been the second largest from 1992 to the present. So we will retain it, we will want to retain it that way, or if possible we can become the biggest—or the strongest political party,” Sotto said.

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