MANILA, Philippines – Newly elected Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the chamber under him would have a “cordial” working relationship with Malacañang and with his friend, President Rodrigo Duterte.

“It will definitely be cordial. There will be a working relationship. It’s just that we are not party mates,” Sotto said in a Rappler Talk interview on Tuesday, May 22.

“Whatever is good for the country. If the administration is pushing something for our countrymen, we will support it. If we feel it is not, then it is not….I think we can work with each other,” Sotto said.

Sotto is a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition while Duterte is chairman of the ruling PDP-Laban. The NPC has an alliance with the Duterte administration. Sotto’s son, Quezon City Councilor Gian Sotto, is a PDP-Laban member.

Asked if his alliance with Duterte would affect how he deals with Senate issues, Sotto said: “No, [my son’s membership] won’t affect it. We have friends in PDP-Laban,” Sotto said.

“In my experience, it was very, very seldom that the President has expressed his opinion on our legislation. All the more now that we are not party mates. Again, as I said, I have been friends with the President sine 1988. We have the same advocacy – the issue of illegal drugs and drug abuse. I think we can work with each other,” he added.

Asked about criticisms on the quality of the Senate, Sotto said it is just “natural” for people to react that way to public figures and institutions.

“You just have to take it in stride as long as you know it’s not true. As long as you know the Senate is doing its work then I don’t think it should bother us. We should not be bothered,” Sotto said.

As for Duterte’s campaiogn on illegal drugs, he maintained they do not need to condemn the rising number of extrajudicial killings because there is a need to look at the context first. He also said the numbers of deaths being floated by critics and international groups are questionable.

“They are counting into the figures – they included the other homicides and murders not connected to police operations. How can you condemn that? You do if you’re in the opposition, it’s easy to do that. But if you’re netural, like me, you look at the context first….It’s not right to call the entire drug operations as extrajudicial killings,” Sotto said. – Rappler.com