Lacson, Sotto on Comelec's Garcia: Competent, has integrity

Presidential candidate Panfilo Lacson and running mate Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday vouched for the competence and integrity of newly-appointed poll commissioner George Garcia in handling cases involving his former clients.

In a press conference in Pasig City, Lacson said Garcia is qualified to be one of the Commission on Elections’ commissioners considering his wide grasp on election laws.

“Qualification-wise, talagang qualified siya kasi ang tagal niya nang election lawyer. After Chairman [Sixto] Brillantes, siya talaga ang napakalaki ng grasp pagdating sa mga election laws,” Lacson said.

(Qualification-wise, he is really qualified because he was an election lawyer for a long time. After Chairman Brillantes, he is the one who really has a wide grasp when it comes to election laws.)

Asked if he thinks Garcia’s appointment is a cause of concern considering that presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is his former client, Lacson said the new commissioners already know how they deal with possible conflict of interest.

“‘Yung conflict of interest, siguro alam na nila ang gagawin nila kung sakaling kliyente nila ang involved don sa mga petitions,” Lacson said.

(Maybe, they know what to do if their former clients are involved in the petitions.)

“Kasi ‘yung inhibition is a personal decision e. Wala naman makakapag-utos sa kanya na mag-inhibit unless umabot sa korte at umabot sa Korte Suprema na mag-inhibit na s’ya but in the meantime desisyon niya ang mag-inhibit o hindi,” he added.

(Inhibition is a personal decision. No one can direct him to inhibit unless the case reaches the court and if the Supreme Court directs him to inhibit. But in the meantime, it is his decision to inhibit or not.)

Marcos is facing at least seven petitions against his presidential bid before the Comelec.

Of the seven petitions, six are currently being appealed at the Comelec en banc level.

Due diligence

According to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, newly-appointed commissioners may vote on cases that are pending at the en banc level.

Jimenez also appealed to the public to give the new commissioners a chance to to prove that they are impartial and neutral in resolving matters in Comelec.

For his part, Sotto said: “Knowing Atty. George, he will inhibit.”

In an interview with GMA News’ Tina Panganiban-Perez, Garcia assured the public that he will inhibit in all the cases that he handled.

“Kapag may mga kaso ring palagay ko kahit hindi ko hina-handle ngayon pero dahil naging clients ko before o nagkaroon ako ng relationship before, in my commissioner capacity, I’m going to take no part,” he added.

(If there are cases which involve my former clients or persons whom I have a personal relationship before, in my commissioner capacity, I’m going to take no part.)

“I will always exercise prudence and due diligence and definitely the highest ethical standard. Kasi para sa akin, mas malaki po yung sakripisyo ko rito ngayon kung titingnan niyo naman, kumpara doon sa private practice. Kaya lang para na lang sa bayan talaga,” he added.

(For me, I have sacrificed a lot here compared to my private practice.)

Garcia said other Eleksyon 2022 candidates who used to be his clients are Senator Manny Pacquiao, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Sorsogon Governor Francis Escudero,  Lacson and Sotto.

Apart from Garcia, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Aimee Torrefranca-Neri as interim Comelec commissioner and Saidamen Balt Pangarungan as interim chairperson of the poll commission.

The other Comelec commissioners are Socorro Inting, Marlon Caquejo, Aimee Ferolino, and Rey Bulay.

All of the Comelec commissioners who will be sitting in the en banc during the 2022 national and local elections are Duterte appointees.

Debates

Meanwhile, Lacson said Comelec’s sanctions against candidates who will skip the debates are not applicable to their ticket as they always participate in these fora.

“Not applicable sa amin kasi kami sugod nang sugod basta mayroong debate,” he said.

(That is not applicable to us because we always participate in debates.)

Lacson said the SMNI debates is an exception because its owner, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, has already endorsed another tandem for Eleksyon 2022.

The Lacson and Sotto tandem conducted campaign-related activities in Pasig City on Wednesday.

They started their campaign activities by paying courtesy to Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto.

Vico is the son of Sotto’s brother, Vic.

The courtesy call was also attended by Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo and senatorial candidate Gringo Honasan.

According to the Senate president, Vico is “concentrating” in Pasig and he doesn’t want to be involved in national politics considering his party affiliation and his family relations.

Vico is a member of Aksyon Demokratiko who fielded Manila Mayor Isko Moreno as its standard bearer.

“Pinakamaganda na tinanggap kami ni Mayor Vico sa pagbisita sa kanya... Ang aming campaign manager sa Pasig [ay] si Vic Sotto. It’s more than enough. It says a thousand words,” Sotto said.

(What’s important is Mayor Vico accepted us. Our campaign manager in Pasig is Vic Sotto. It’s more than enough. It says a thousand words.)

For his part, Lacson said he and Vico are “like-minded” when it comes to anti-corruption advocacy.

“So, ramdam nya rin na yung plataporma namin umaayon o naka-align sa kanyang ginagawa sa Pasig City. Maski ‘di expressly pinagusapan kanina, meeting of the minds, nagkakaintindihan. Iisa yung advocacy, yung clean government, anti-corruption, etcetera,” Lacson said.

(He also feels that our platforms are aligned with what he is doing in Pasig City. Although he did not expressed it openly, there’s a meeting of the minds. We understand each other. We have one advocacy, which is clean government or anti-corruption drive, etcetera.)

After their courtesy call, the Lacson and Sotto tandem held a townhall meeting with vendors at the Pasig City Mega Market.

According to Comelec’s data, Pasig City has 457,370 registered voters for Eleksyon 2022.—LDF, GMA News