Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday said they have dropped their endorsement of Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri after he openly endorsed Bongbong Marcos for president in the May 9 elections.
"Hindi na, hindi na," Lacson told reporters in Romblon when asked if they would still back Zubiri, who is seeking reelection, after endorsing and even raising the hand of Marcos during a joint campaign rally in Bukidnon last week.
The Lacson-Sotto tandem has adopted several guest senatorial candidates in their slate who are also being endorsed by other tickets, so long as they won't endorse any candidate for president and vice president.
Apart from Lacson and Sotto's, Zubiri is also a part of Vice President Leni Robredo’s senatorial slate.
"Alam naman nila yun, kung ano yung consequence. Kung ayaw nila sa amin [at] iba yung gustong dalhin, e parang awkward naman na dalhin pa rin namin sila, hindi ba? So, it’s a personal choice. No hard feelings," Lacson said.
"Maliwanag naman yun when we talked to him na pwede sila ma-endorse ng iba, ma-adopt ng iba, but once they parang endorse another team, another tandem, then so be it and that’s it," he added.
Earlier, senatorial candidates Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and former Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista were also dropped from the Lacson-Sotto slate after they attended Marcos' proclamation rally.
For now, the senatorial slate that Lacson and Sotto are "wholeheartedly" supporting is composed of former Agriculture Sec. Manny Piñol, former PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar, Dr. Minguita Padilla, former Senators JV Ejercito and Gringo Honasan, and reelectionist Sen. Joel Villanueva.
"Nag-express na rin sila e, na maski adopted sila ng iba, nandiyan pa rin sila sa amin. ‘Di ba, may kasabihan tayo --- sa mga lovers ito ha --- love that is not met can reach but halfway. Ganun 'yun," Lacson said.
Lacson is now running for president as an independent candidate after he quit his own party because its leaders chose to endorse a different presidential bet, which later turned out to be Robredo.
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