Sotto says peers approach him for Senate president post

Senator-elect Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III— File photo

MANILA, Philippines — Presumptive senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Friday said some members of the Senate are approaching him about becoming the next Senate president in the 20th Congress.

“Well, I have some friends and members of the Senate who have been talking about it,” Sotto said in an INQToday interview when asked about being approached on a possible Senate presidency comeback.

“As far as I am concerned, I will leave it to my peers. I will leave it to my co-senators, whoever they want to elect…” he added.

In another online briefing, Sotto was asked how many senators are talking to him, to which he said: “About three or four.”

“They’re saying that their peers are ready to support me,” Sotto also said. “I said, if we have 13 then I will accept.”

Sotto, when pressed further as to how many senators are supporting him, including those peers, said: “I’d rather not say anything concerning that.”

“First of all it would be hearsay coming from me, they are the ones saying that, just ask them,” he added.

Sotto was Senate president from May 2018 until the end of his term in June 2022.

Chiz Escudero is the current Senate president of the 19th Congress.

Sotto said he and Escudero had not tackled this matter, adding that it was “the last quarter of 2024” since the two of them last talked.

However, Sotto said he is open to discussing the matter with Escudero.

“We have not talked, how much more about the issue of the Senate, we haven’t discussed it,” Sotto said.

“Surely we will discuss it, we will talk it over,” he added.

Sotto, however, said that if he is not elected as Senate president, he will seek to chair the Senate committee on ethics.

READ: Tito Sotto wants ‘ethical standards’ for senators

“The definition of the committee speaks for itself,” he went on. “There should be ethical standards for senators. We should be strict on the rules if we want the public to see the good image of the Senate — decent and orderly.”

“That’s what we want, and that’s how the Senate was during the four and a half years I served as Senate president,” he added. /das/abc