For starters, Lacson is at best shady. Read Ping Lacson and the PAOCTP Criminal Organization. On the other hand, Sotto is spineless. Shady and Spineless, is this tandem really the best we can do in the Philippines?
On August 8, 2016, Senator Hontiveros filed a Senate resolution correctly stating that the crimes of Marcos and the human rights violations committed under Martial Law render him unfit to be given a hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. A no brainer yet the Senate delayed and only took it up for a vote on November 14, 2016. Both Lacson and Sotto (then Majority Leader) were among the six (6) senators (including Gordon, Honasan, Pacquiao and Villar) who voted AGAINST the resolution of Hontiveros.
In 2017, Lacson and Sotto ("a Duterte ally"), among other senatorial lackeys of Dutae such as Ralph Recto and JV Ejercito, declared that the ICC case against Dutae was "dustbin-bound." Anyone with an iota of humanity would have welcomed and supported the ICC case against Dutae but not these Dutae stooges.
More recently, shortly after the outgoing ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested judicial authorization to proceed with an investigation on the alleged crimes against humanity committed in the Philippines, Sotto raised the question, "What about drug groups killings in Mexico and other South American countries, are they also investigating?"
"Sa mexico kapwa cartel nagpapatayan. may gobyerno sila para mag imbistiga. sa pinas gobyerno ang pumapatay kaya si ICC ang nag iimbistiga." Jojo Antonio, Twitter, June 15, 2021
"Bobo talaga ito! If drug groups killing each other, it's the government has jurisdiction to that. However, if the government are killing the drug users and pushers, the ICC has to look into that." Fil Amboy, Twitter, June 16, 2021
"Whataboutism at its finest." Mister Mxyzptlk, Twitter, June 16, 2021
[Whataboutism--the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counteraccusation or raising a different issue.]
"So porke't gumagawa din ng krimen si Pedro ay hindi na dapat imbestigahan si Juan sa mga nagawa nyang krimen, ganun ba? Anong klaseng rason yan?" Leisbeth Recto, Twitter, June 16, 2021
Just a minute sampling of the adverse reactions of netizens towards Sotto's asinine statement. Hence, Sotto, as expected of a spineless pandering pimp, backpedaled.
In June 16, 2021, Sotto now "believes" the government should allow the ICC to see for themselves the Philippines' anti-drug drive--albeit hiding behind the skirt of Dutae when he states that "the ball is with the executive department to decide on the ICC probe." A two-faced coward (doble-kara at duwag), wouldn't you say?
On May 16, 2018, six (6) opposition senators (Drilon, Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Hontiveros, De Lima, Trillanes) asked the Supreme Court (SC) to interfere in the ongoing withdrawal process by the Philippines from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Much later in January 2020, Lacson "urged" the Supreme Court (which at that time had repeatedly proven its blind allegiance to Dutae) to rule on the petition of his colleagues seeking to declare as invalid or ineffective President Rodrigo Duterte’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) without the consent of the Senate. However, Lacson also stated that “In the absence of a Supreme Court ruling on the President’s power to unilaterally break a treaty/bilateral agreement like the VFA without the consent of 2/3 supermajority vote of the Senate, I agree that the President can do that without the Senate’s approval or consent.” Disguised duplicity at its best that illustrates Lacson's true allegiance to Dutae.
Considering (a) Lacson's duplicity in castrating the approval rights of the Senate on the country's withdrawal from international treaties (thereby reinforcing the self-serving whims of Dutae at the expense of the whole country) and (b) Sotto's above asinine thinking, intellectual dishonesty, political pimping and cowardly vacillation with respect to the ICC case against Dutae, I'd say this this tandem is bereft of capability, honesty and bravery--Dutae reloaded.
As Dutae was organizing his lynch mobs in all the branches of government against De Lima, one of the preludes occurred at the Senate when De Lima was first ousted as the Chair of the Justice and Human Rights Committee days after she presented a witness who accused Dutae of ordering extrajudicial killings as Davao City mayor. Lacson and Sotto were among the sixteen (16) members of the lynch mob at the Senate coopted by Dutae, who are listed as follows:
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III
Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri
Sen. Panfilo Lacson
Sen. Cynthia Villar
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian
Sen. Gregorio Honasan
Sen. Sonny Angara
Sen. Joel Villanueva
Sen. Richard Gordon
Sen. Nancy Binay
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito
Sen. Manny Pacquiao
Sen. Loren Legarda
Sen. Grace Poe
In May 2018, when a majority of the senators (14 out 23 senators) banded together to ask the Supreme Court to review its decision to unseat Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno through a quo warranto petition and defend the Senate’s jurisdiction over impeachable officials, Lacson and Sotto were NOT among these 14 senators.
Today (2021), Lacson and Sotto are rebranding themselves as a "viable alternative" to the Dutae Dynasty. Now that's a heaping pile of hogwash. If these pretenders gain any traction in May 2022, the Filipinos are in for another grand swindle!
I reprint the following article in August 2012 (with the author's permission) to highlight the quintessential Sotto, the vice-presidential running mate of Lacson (who is just as unessential).
Sotto the Pimp
Vicente “Tito” Sotto is no stranger to exploiting the ignorance of the common man. After all, his entire career from showbiz to politics has been nothing more than pimping “bread and circus”—just like Willie Revillame in Wowowee or whatever its latest version is on TV. By the way, I really enjoy watching the dancing girls around Willie for they indeed appeal to my basest instincts. The only difference is, Sotto has successfully pimped himself to the Senate; whereas, Willie has the decency to remain where he rightfully belongs.
As if to justify his political existence at an institution that is only perverted by his presence, Sotto pimps himself anew by pandering to the Almighty Catholic Church with an emotional performance, revealing “that he had an offspring who died due to complications which he believes arose from his wife, the actress Helen Gamboa-Sotto, having used birth control pills.” He went on to relate that it would have been the 37th death anniversary of his son.
Of course, Sotto’s constituents (more or less the same as the Wowowee constituents) would suck this up hook, line and sinker—much to the delight of the Anti-RH Bill sector of the Catholic Church. However, I see a pimp who is yet again exploiting another high profile issue to perpetuate his political irrelevance through emotional misinformation.
In a TV interview shortly after Sotto’s Anti-RH Bill speech, Dr. Alberto G. Romualdez Jr., who is infinitely more qualified on the subject matter and who happens to be a former Secretary of the Department of Health (when the designation still had some currency until Duque came along), refuted any correlation between birth control pills and the death of Sotto’s child. Yet, this doesn’t matter to Sotto’s constituents. It also doesn’t matter that Sotto refuses to be accountable for the decisions and actions that he and his wife made over 37 years ago. Instead, he channels his personal guilt trip to pursue a so-called “mission” that (a) gains public approval for himself, (b) offers a superficial “do-nothing” diversionary palliative and (c) exacerbates the erosion and the ignorance of civic duty. Sotto pimp politics at its finest!
Published in Get Real Philippines on August 15, 2012
And just for good measure, do read the following article entitled "PokPok" and Sotto's consistently incidental role on the wrong side of history.
In the words of Sotto, "Let me sum it up in three words based on what we can offer: kakayahan, katapatan, katapangan (capability, honesty, bravery)." Now that's a "BIG LIE" worthy of praise from no less than Goebbels and Hitler.
The truth is, Shady and Spineless are quite the opposite of honesty and bravery. And like Dutae, the only thing these political chameleons are capable of doing is to run this country into the ground yet again. Let's hope the Filipinos have learned their mistake with Dutae.
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