MANILA - Sorsogon Governor Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Wednesday confirmed his plans to make a Senate comeback next year under the National People's Coalition (NPC) party.

Escudero's released the statement days after NPC Chair and Senate President Vicente Sotto III told reporters there are several former senators who plan to return to the chamber through next year's polls.

"I do plan to place my name once again in the ballot for the Senate in the hope that I will be able to do my part in helping our country recover from this pandemic after this administration," he said in a statement.

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Escudero, who has been a senator from 2007 to 2019, said his platform this time around would likely center on the empowerment of local governments.

"If there would be one platform that should be brought, that would be to enable the local government units to decide for themselves more freely," he said.

Instead of citing his previous work in the legislative chamber, Escudero cited his more recent "experience in local government" as his asset in the 2022 senatorial elections.

"Legislating and executing laws are two different things," he said.

"Quite frankly they know, we know better what we need than any armchair secretary or undersecretary simply holding office in an air-conditioned building in Metro Manila," he said.

Escudero, who lost to Vice President Leni Robredo in 2016, said he is not keen on looking at his survey rankings in the list of possible Senate candidates at this time of the race.

"Whoever is way behind should not be sad about it because the numbers will change," he said.

"The starting numbers that you will see, you will have to see some time in January or February. That’s when the starting gun in so far the real numbers are concerned for the upcoming elections," he said.

Aside from the Sorsogon governor, former senators Loren Legarda, Gringo Honasan, Bam Aquino and JV Ejercito are also planning to vie for a Senate seat, Sotto said in an earlier interview.

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