TRANSFER OF SOTTO, ORETA TO NPC DOESNT MEAN
THEY ARE DESERTING OPPOSITION

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the defection of former Senators Vicente Sotto III and Teresita Aquino-Oreta from the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) to the Nationalist Peoples Coalition does not necessarily mean that they have deserted the United Opposition.

Pimentel noted that although Sotto and Oreta have already taken their oath as NPC members, they have not declared that they are breaking away from the opposition.

He pointed out that the LDP, from which Sotto and Oreta, resigned, is not among the political parties that have coalesced to form the United Opposition.

On the other hand, he said the NPC, although allied with the administration, has several members who belong to the opposition.

Among the prominent NPC members who are oppositionists are House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, former Sen. Ernesto Maceda, Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza and Caloocan Rep. Luis Asistio. Escudero is in fact one of the UNOs senatorial contenders.

This means that while Sotto has joined the Nationalist Peoples Coalition, led by businessman Danding Cojuangco, he is free to decide whether to run for senator under the administration or the opposition banner, Pimentel said.

The minority leader noted that even from the start, Sotto has always been considered among the aspirants who are assured of inclusion in the UNOs 12-man senatorial ticker.

Pimentel said the problem with Aquino-Oreta is that his nephew, Tarlac Rep. Benigno Noynoy Aquino III, is also aspiring for a senatorial seat, but only one of them could be accommodated.

And if both of them will run, they will cancel out each other, he said.

Pimentel said that perhaps this problem can be settled by Tessie Oreta and Noynoy Aquino themselves with the help of other members of the Aquino family.

At this point, he said the reports that Sotto and Oreta will be drafted as administration senatorial candidates is in the realm of speculation.