Sotto says row with UNO prompted 'defection' to NPC

Former senator Vicente Sotto III on Sunday confirmed that the prospect of being dislodged from the United Opposition's senatorial ticket prompted him and former senator Tessie Aquino Oreta to join the Nationalist People's Coalition. The defection of Sotto and Oreta, former stalwarts of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino led by Senator Edgardo Angara, to the NPC has fueled speculations that they would join the administration's Unity Ticket since NPC has an existing coalition with the administration. In a radio interview, Sotto said he remains an opposition at heart but he did not discount the possibility of joining the administration's ticket. "I can't say that for sure now (whether or not to join the administration's unity ticket). The NPC has a meeting on Tuesday and after that I would be in a better position to answer that kind of question," Sotto said. "With what is happening now, anything is possible. That's why I can say that I can be invited by any group, I have no problems with that. But I won't sacrifice my oppositionist stance on certain issues." Likewise, Sotto hit some of the administration's men who had insisted on the condition that former opposition members who want to join the administration's senatorial ticket should first apologize for bad-mouthing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. "I think neither me nor Tessie (Aquino Oreta) had spoken ill of anybody, either concerning Erap nor GMA (President Arroyo). I had talked about certain issues but I have never gone personal," Sotto said. Sotto said that while his group was among the first to broach the idea of a unified opposition slate with Estrada, but recently he found out that they would likely be left out of the UNO slate. Apart from Oreta, other members of Sotto's group include former senators Gregorio Honasan and John Osmeña. "In the last quarter of 2006, we had a meeting with Erap (former president Estrada) and he broached the idea of a senatorial line up (of the opposition). I told him that the four of us were interested," Sotto recalled. He said Estrada admitted that at that time he was already talking with Senate President Manuel Villar and that Villar's Wednesday Group--which includes Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, and Senators Ralph Recto and Joker Arroyo--would likely be included in the opposition's senatorial ticket. The only problem at that time, according to Sotto was what to do with senators Panfilo Lacson and Angara who are not in good terms. "But after some time, there was a new list (of UNO ticket) and my friends are being left out. You cannot fault us for feeling bad because we consider ourselves the 'elders' and we are the ones being left out and the 'prodigal sons' are the ones in. And even some people who have no intention of joining UNO are being included—that's where the problem started." Sotto said there were probably left out because they are not members of the PDP-Laban headed by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and Estrada's Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, which are the core of UNO. "In fact, a few months back, I have suggested to Erap for us to join the UNO but he told us to wait. You see, we don't belong to any party at that time and if they see us as LDP members, they don't actually recognize the LDP as an opposition party and they don't see Ed Angara as one of them," Sotto said. "So I don't see a big fuss [for our decision to join] the NPC because there are many members of NPC who are with the opposition," Sotto said, noting that opposition stalwarts like House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, as well as Rep. Rodolfo Plaza are NPC members. On the other hand, Rep. Gilbert Teodoro, a nephew of Cojuangco, is reportedly joining the administration's senatorial ticket. "So it really hurt us. When you listen to members of UNO, and those who have just joined the UNO bandwagon are mouthing bad words against us," Sotto said. Sotto accused some members of UNO, whom he did not identify, of discrediting him and his group before Estrada. "I'm sure they are feeding Erap misinformation, because I heard that Erap said he does not need to call me anymore because I did not tell him I'd be joining NPC," Sotto said. "Since I have taken my oath as NPC member, I have not talked to him (Estrada). But my position is that since I was with the LDP and until the time I left that party I have never sought his (Estrada's) permission. I felt that I don't need to tell him because we are not actually partymates, we are friends." - GMANews.TV