Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson will seek the presidency in 2022 with Senate President Vicente Sotto III as his running mate.

Various media outlets reported that the official declaration for the tandem will be on August 4, 2021.

“You can already read between the lines that the answer is yes,” Sotto said in an exclusive television interview.

The two have been conducting consultative meetings in Luzon beginning at the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan, according to information from Sotto’s office.

Sotto is currently the chairman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and there were rumors last June that Senator Manny Pacquiao would be joining the party.

However, news of the Lacson-Sotto tandem to be formally declared next month means Pacquiao could no longer run for president under the NPC in 2022.

Pacquiao was in talks with Sotto last month but the Senate president said it had nothing to do with politics. Also last June, long-time Pacquiao ally Mayor Luis “Chavit” Singson of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur joined the NPC last month.

Pacquiao is no longer the president of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) as Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, the former vice chairman of the party, was elected last weekend to be the ruling party’s president.