CABANATUAN CITY – Comebacking former senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III ended 13th in the senatorial race in his home province of Nueva Ecija.
The popular comedian-turned-politician who traces his roots in this city, garnered 221,203 votes based on the complete unofficial returns of the National Secretariat for Social Action-National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections-Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (NASSA-Namfrel-PPCRV) Operation Quick Count 2007 at the Ma. Assumpta Seminary here.
Sotto has relatives in Barangay Kapitan Pepe here, including the Castelos and Estebans. A relative, the late Rolan Esteban, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of this city in 1995.
In this city, Sotto fared even worse; he landed in 14th place with only 25,093 votes compared to the topnotcher, former senator Loren Legarda, who got 58,329 votes.
The senatorial elections in this province were dominated by the Genuine Opposition (GO) with nine of their candidates landing in the Magic 12 along with two independents and one from Team Unity (TU). The lone senatorial bet from TU is reelectionist Sen. Edgardo Angara.
The first five slots were occupied by GO bets namely Legarda (516,361); Francis Escudero (510,174); Sen. Panfilo Lacson (480,517); Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. (383,730); and Benigno Aquino III (371,109).
Sotto even finished behind Sonia Roco whose late husband, Sen. Raul Roco, finished last in the presidential elections in 2004 in the province dominated by Sotto’s bosom buddy, late actor Fernando Poe Jr.
With Sotto as campaign manager, Poe got 476,220 votes over President Arroyo’s 160,438, by far the largest margin of victory posted by Poe on a per province basis. This inspite of the fact that Poe visited the province only once compared to Mrs. Arroyo’s 14 trips before the presidential polls.
Rounding out the Magic 12 were former senator Gregorio Honasan (359,655); Alan Peter Cayetano (346,741); Antonio Trillanes (344,142); Sen. Francis Pangilinan (319,785); Aquilino Pimentel (287,645); Angara (252,952) and Roco (222,145).
Political observers believe that Sotto’s poor showing in Nueva Ecija was caused by his defection to the Arroyo administration since the province, while being run by pro-administration leaders, still remains an opposition bailiwick.