Ping, Tito meet 15 envoys, pitch greater role for LGUs

 Ping, Tito meet 15 envoys, pitch greater role for LGUs

The tandem of Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III laid down their “governance platform” during a dinner meeting with the country’s 15 ambassadors Wednesday night.

Presidential candidate Lacson, standard bearer of Partido Reporma, said they discussed a wide range of issues with ambassadors from European Union countries, Australia, United Kingdom and South Korea.

They delved on politics and climate change issues, noting the just-concluded COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, he said.

According to Lacson, they also explained to the envoys why they teamed up for the 2022 national elections.

Meanwhile, Lacson and Sotto reiterated their support for local government units (LGUs), vowing to empower them once elected as President and Vice President, respectively, in the 2022 elections.

Also, the Serbisyo sa Bayan Party (SBP) in Quezon City on Thursday endorsed the candidacy of Sotto for vice president in the 2022 elections.

Mayor Joy Belmonte, who will seek a second term in Quezon City under the SBP banner, expressed support for Sotto’s vice presidential bid.

Sotto is the father of Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, who will also seek reelection under SBP.

In their first “Meet the Press” conference with reporters on Thursday, Lacson and Sotto said they told the diplomats that despite 42 years of legislative experience, the execution of the laws they authored left much to be desired.

Due to this, they decided on a team-up to run for president and vice president in the coming May elections.

“The bottom line is before we ran (for 2022), before we made a decision, we told (the ambassadors) that we learned all that we can about our existing problems, especially the heaviest ones caused by the pandemic, and that we have solutions made with the help of experts, and we are ready to give these solutions to the country,” Lacson said.

Earlier, Lacson also spoke before to the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, and at the FINEX-Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry forum earlier in the week, where he also presented Partido Reporma’s platform of governance.

Sotto, the president of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), said their discussion with the diplomats floated around the bills pending in the Senate and House of Representatives, and the laws he and Lacson had passed before. 

“We were given a good platform to explain (to the ambassadors) why we are running for the Executive Department instead of retiring (from politics), why we threw our hats into the fray,” the Senate President said.

He said that members of the diplomatic corps saw that despite their combined 42 years of legislative experience, “there’s much to be desired with the execution of the laws such as the Dangerous Drugs Act, the Universal Health Care Law and the National ID System Act,” Sotto said.

The envoys’ questions were leading to those issues, he said, “which explains why we’re here (campaigning for president and vice president).”

“Who better to execute the laws than the ones who made them?” Sotto said, adding that the Philippines does not have a parliamentary form of government where ministers in the executive department can also serve as lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Lacson and Sotto said governors and mayors could play a greater role in fighting COVID-19, as they first proposed at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lacson agreed with the move to end the curfew for adults in MetroManila and increase the capacity for public transport but noted that LGUs could be even more involved, as he reminded the national government to keep up its containment strategy against the coronavirus disease.

“Tama naman yung move, pero yung malawakang involvement ng LGUs matagal na naming tinutulak, at ang containment strategy hindi dapat mawala sa gobyerno at sa mga Pilipino, in particular the LGUs,” the senator said.

He said it was still important to trace, test and treat COVID-19 infections while ramping up the vaccination drive, especially with over 34 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines arriving recently.

“Magandang pagkakataon ito para mabuksan ulit ang economy natin,” Lacson said, recalling that the National Economic and Development Authority projected estimated losses of Php41 trillion to the economy owing to the prolonged lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Lacson said the LGUs could roll out vaccines faster especially since most local chief executives feared the jabs would expire within 1 to 3 months.

“Important ang mabilis na rollout, kundi masasayang sila,” he said, noting the recent fire at a hospital in Pagadian City that burned over 140,000 vaccine doses.

As for the slow rollout of vaccines by LGUs, which reportedly irked President Rodrigo Duterte, Sotto said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) should be careful in implementing the Chief Executive’s orders to sanction governors and mayors for lagging inoculations in their areas.

“On the DILG order, baka sinabi lang, pero kung may circular, all (the department) has to do is to be cautious in implementing it, local officials are under them after all,” said Sotto, who once was vice mayor of Quezon City.

“Kabisado natin ang Pinoy, iba ang nakasulat sa papel,” the Senate President added.

Padilla, an opthalmologist who led the medical team of Presidential Adviser Joey Concepcion’s Project ARK (Antibody Rapid Test Kit), agreed with Lacson, and said that according to Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, around 49 million vaccine doses are already with the LGUs.

“But the national government is frustrated na maraming nakatenga sa bodega na vaccine. LGUs were given a deadline of 3 days to use them, pero ang problema din ay logistics,” she said.

“Even the PMA (Philippine Medical Association) has offered to help in logistics so we could bring it to patients with vaccine hesitancy.

Marami pa ring naniniwala sa maling akala, pero the vaccine is our only way out of this (pandemic), and to go back to a better normal,” Padilla said. With Rio N. Araja

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