“In his 6th and final State of the Nation Address last July 26, President Rodrigo Duterte admitted that he was wrong to think that leading the country is as simple and easy as leading Davao City,” said Senator Ping Lacson as he launched his presidential bid last September 8, alongside Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto.
Heavily criticized due to their role in defending and enabling President Duterte’s policies since the start of his term, the duo railed against corruption and incompetence during the Duterte administration, highlighting the botched pandemic response, to cement their place as part of the opposition.
“Pagod na ang taong-bayan, pagod nang mamuhay sa kadiliman, sa buhay na hindi matanaw ang inaasam na magandang kinabukasan para sa sarili at bansa,” said Sotto despite defending the President several times and pushing for most of his pet bills in the Senate.
Both senators have distanced themselves from Duterte in the past months, even proposing an opposition unification plan to the Liberal Party in August. But yesterday’s statements were the most aggressive, calling the government full of corruption and hopelessness.
“I could not stress it enough — ang tamang pamumuno ay dapat pangunahan ng ‘Leadership by example’ — hindi sa salita kundi sa gawa. No leader can succeed if he cannot practice what he preaches,” Lacson asserted, blaming the Duterte administration’s “unpresidential” leadership.
The tandem hopes to capitalize on this, presenting themselves as the “brave, faithful, and trustworthy” leaders with 83 years of public service between the two of them.
In his speech, Sotto presented himself as a God-fearing family man, contrasting himself with the God-cursing and thrice-married Duterte, as well as running away from his alleged involvement in the death of actress Pepsi Paloma.
Lacson, meanwhile, talked about how his mother instilled “honesty, discipline, and integrity” as well as his respect for the rule of law, both as an attack on the Duterte regime and to stave off accusations that he would be another Duterte-like dictator disregarding due process and ruling with an iron fist.
Pulse Asia’s latest presidential survey saw dim prospects for Lacson, as he ranked 7th with just 4% of respondents saying they would vote for him.
Sotto saw much better results, ranking 2nd with a tenth of the respondents supporting him.
Although the candidates officially announced their Malacañang bid, they avoided encouraging people to vote for them to skirt COMELEC regulations against early campaigning.
Campaign period will officially start on February 8, 2022, ending on May 7, two days before the election.
Featured image courtesy of Inquirer.
