Lacson: Sotto ousted for not having ‘P142B’ to ‘look after’ Senate peers
Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III lost the Senate presidency because he did not have multibillion pesos at his disposal, unlike his predecessor, to “look after” his colleagues, a member of the minority bloc said on Friday.
“The issue that reached us is that Senator Sotto supposedly did not know how to look after (“mag-alaga”) his fellow senators,” Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said in an interview on radio station True FM.
“My reaction was: ‘Doesn’t know how to look after them?’ I said, Senate President Sotto did not have P142 billion that he could distribute to fellow senators,” he added.
Sotto, according to Lacson, was even compared to former Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who was perceived to have better relations with colleagues because he looked after their welfare.
Sotto replaced Escudero as Senate president on Sept. 8, 2025, after the latter was linked to alleged anomalies in government infrastructure projects.
On May 11, however, Sotto was unseated in a coup and replaced by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
‘Pack up and leave’
Lacson, however, questioned what lawmakers meant by “looking after” colleagues.
“For us, the definition of ‘alaga’ is looking after the welfare of our colleagues, but not for material reasons,” he explained.
“But if alag’ means feeding and spoiling you using money that is not ours but belongs to the public, then if that’s the definition of alaga, we might as well all pack up and leave,” Lacson said.
The senator, who retired as national police chief before entering politics, likened leadership struggles in the Senate to a “continuing crime,” saying political realignments are a constant reality in the chamber.
According to Lacson, Sotto himself was removed after several senators shifted alliances. He identified them as Senators Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, and siblings Camille and Mark Villar, whom they considered vulnerable to switching sides.
Just doing his job
Lacson, who was Senate pro tempore during Sotto’s term, also said he heard accusations that his work as blue ribbon committee chair contributed to political tensions in the Senate.
The committee investigated alleged anomalies in government flood control projects, exposing layers of widespread corruption and implicating some lawmakers, including Escudero and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva.
“There were questions why charges have been recommended against some of our colleagues. I thought to myself, if that’s the reason, then there’s nothing we can do because it is what it is,” Lacson said.
“I did my job. I did not coach [Public Works Undersecretary Roberto] Bernardo to point fingers at them, and I did not coach [civil engineer Henry] Alcantara to implicate them either,” he added.
P142B funds
Lacson said that if the statements were made freely and names surfaced during the hearings, then he should not be blamed for it.
Escudero came under fire in July 2025 after a document revealed he inserted P142.7 billion into the 2025 national budget during the bicameral conference committee deliberations—just before it was ratified by Congress and signed by President Marcos.
The document, sent to Vera Files and later made public, raised questions on who decided where the P142 billion in flood control funds should go.
Escudero, who was the Senate president at that time, denied the allegations and said that he had proposed budget changes for Sorsogon but insisted they did not amount to P9 billion.
The blue ribbon panel has been unable to release its report on the flood control probe, which needs two more signatures so it can be filed and sponsored in plenary. Only seven senators have signed so far.
Sen. Pia Cayetano has replaced Lacson as chair of the committee, adding more uncertainties to the report’s fate. —WITH A REPORT FRoM INQUIRER RESEARCH
Source: Inquirer Archives
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