Lacson, Sotto drop 2 Senate bets for backing opponents

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and Herbert Bautista INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Partido Reporma on Wednesday announced it was dropping reelectionist Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and former Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista from its senatorial slate after the duo endorsed an opposing candidate.

Party chair and presidential standard-bearer Sen. Panfilo Lacson confirmed what he broke in a tweet that they will no longer be endorsing the candidacies of Gatchalian and Bautista, who are likewise in the senatorial lineup of presidential candidate and former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“We have made our decision last night because of that statement attributed—directly not through rumors or second or third person [account]—so we decided,” he said.

Lacson confirmed his earlier tweet on Thursday morning that Gatchalian and Bautista were no longer part of his team’s senatorial lineup.

“Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and ex-Mayor Herbert Bautista have made their choices of the principles and advocacies that they will embrace moving forward in this political exercise. Obviously, they are not ours. They now cease to be part of the Lacson-Sotto team,” he said.

To cite the basis for the decision, Lacson, in a press briefing at the party headquarters in San Juan, showed a clip of Gatchalian referring to Marcos as “our president” and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte as “our vice president.”

Gatchalian is a member of Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the party chair of which is Sotto.

No video clip was shown for Bautista, but an Inquirer report quoted him as having introduced Marcos as “the next president of the Republic of the Philippines.”

Gentleman’s agreement

According to Lacson, Gatchalian breached a “gentleman’s agreement” that he made with Sotto when he sought permission to skip Partido Reporma’s kickoff in Imus and instead join the Marcos-Duterte proclamation rally at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan province.

He said that on Monday night, Gatchalian and another reelectionist senator, Juan Miguel Zubiri, met with Sotto and “made a very firm commitment” that they would not endorse any other presidential and vice presidential candidate, and that they would continue to support the Lacson-Sotto tandem.

While Zubiri has so far stood firm in his commitment, the video clip of Gatchalian “showed it all,” according to Lacson.

“So what we saw was that they have chosen to embrace a different set of advocacies and principles, which, to us, are nonnegotiable,” he said.

“I have read his statement that he respects our decision, we also do, but on that aspect [we draw the line because] our parents taught us the virtues of honesty, integrity, loyalty, dignity, self-respect,” he said.

The Partido Reporma standard-bearer, however, cleared Richard Gordon of allegations that he, too, violated the party’s “standards.”

“We validated the claims against Senator Gordon, but we did not see any breach. The closest he came to endorsing was when he told the crowd in Camarines Sur that they are ‘all in pink, and being in the pink of health, you are good.’

“It may have a double meaning, but that’s it. To us, that did not sound like an endorsement,” Lacson said.

Sotto, however, clarified that the NPC will discuss in a meeting next week, “among other topics” what actions the party leadership will take against Gatchalian for endorsing another vice presidential candidate opposite his party chair.

Blessing in disguiseAccording to Sotto, Gatchalian’s removal from the Lacson-Sotto lineup may be a “blessing in disguise.”

“That somehow frees him from the dilemma on who to endorse. At the same time, I think this is also enlightening for voters, as they can see who among the candidates professes loyalty,” he said.

Loyalty was also the issue raised by two University of the Philippines (UP) professors who frowned on the guest candidate system, especially among senators.

“The practice of having guest candidates further undermines development of political parties in the Philippines,” said UP political science professor Jean Encinas Franco. “It also dilutes the very idea of standing for a particular cause, principle and issue to which supposed ‘representatives’ of the people must adhere.”For professor Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza, former dean of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, the guest candidate system “is a trend that will continue as long a we do not have a strong political party system in the country and voters vote on popularity, name recall and money.”

gsg