From One News: “Should I be given again the mandate to return to the Senate, I do not have to reinvent myself. I pledge to continue not availing of the pork barrel allocations in any shape or form. I will continue to be a vanguard of the annual national budget to the best of my ability,” Lacson said.

Lacson To Continue Scrutinizing National Budget In Senate Comeback Bid

Janvic Mateo
October 3, 2024

Veteran lawmaker Panfilo Lacson and the other members of the so-called macho bloc in the Senate – former Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and reelectionist Lito Lapid – filed their respective certificates of candidacies for senator at the Commission on Elections at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

“Should I be given again the mandate to return to the Senate, I do not have to reinvent myself. I pledge to continue not availing of the pork barrel allocations in any shape or form. I will continue to be a vanguard of the annual national budget to the best of my ability,” Lacson said.

Despite being part of the administration’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate, Lacson will run as an independent in next year’s midterm polls.

“This is not new to me,” Lacson said in Filipino on “Storycon” on One News on Wednesday.

He noted that he ran as an independent in 2007, although he was adopted at the time by the United Opposition or UNO, which he indicated as his party.

Unlike UNO, Lacson noted that the Marcos administration’s Alyansa was not registered as a party, which prohibited it from issuing a certificate of nomination and acceptance.

“So when I filed (for the 2025 elections), I put N/A (not applicable) in the political party, meaning I will run as an independent candidate,” he said.

“It was like that in 2016. I was also independent,” he added, noting that he was only adopted as a guest candidate of several slates.

Lacson said he is officially a guest candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, one of the political parties that make up the Alyansa coalition.

Lacson is eyeing a fourth term as a senator, having served two consecutive terms from 2001 to 2013 and another term from 2016 to 2022.

He said he will join organized rallies for Alyansa candidates, as well as campaign with those from NPC such as Sotto, Lapid and outgoing Makati Mayor Abby Binay.

Sotto, meanwhile, was accompanied by his wife Helen and two children – Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian and actress Ciara in filing his COC.

According to Sotto, he decided to return to the Senate so he could push his previous bills that were unacted upon, such as the government rightsizing and the measure granting 14th month pay to workers.

If given the chance to make a Senate comeback, Sotto said he would also push for the passage of a measure seeking to outlaw fake news. He also intends to bring back proper decorum practices in the Senate.

He added that he was not thinking of being a Senate president again, but if elected by his colleagues, he would be ready to serve.

Sotto said he convinced Lacson to throw his hat into the senatorial ring again because he would be an “asset” in the Senate.

Another member, former senator Gregorio Honasan, was not able to join them due to an emergency.

Honasan is not part of Alyansa, but Lacson confirmed that he will run under a newly formed party.

For his part, Lapid said if he will be reelected, he will expand his free legal assistance program, better known as the “Lapid Law.”

The three members of the macho bloc are part of Marcos’ 2025 senatorial slate. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Rhodina Villanueva