MANILA (UPDATED) — "Ipaglaban Mo" host Jopet Sison will replace veteran broadcaster Noli De Castro as Aksyon Demokratiko senatorial candidate, the party said in a statement, Thursday.

Aksyon Demokratiko confirmed Sison's inclusion on their Senate slate a day after De Castro withdrew his certificate of candidacy for senator due to "personal reasons" and a "change of heart."

"Aside from being a prolific legislator… he has a real heart for public service having been part of his father's TV program and newspaper column in helping the downtrodden with free legal advice," Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernest Ramel Jr. told reporters in a text message.

"He will be a very good senator that will help enable important legislations that an Isko Moreno Domagoso presidency will sorely need to lift our country in the economic and pandemic troubles we are in," he said.

• READ: Noli de Castro withdraws senatorial candidacy

Aside from working on his legal program aired on ABS-CBN, Sison was a Quezon City councilor for 6 years, served as assistant general manager of the National Housing Authority (NHA) from 2001 to 2005, and was president of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) from 2006 to 2012, the party said in a statement.

Sison, a former Quezon City chairman of the Liberal Party, ran for Quezon City vice mayor in 2019 under the ruling PDP-Laban, but lost to Gian Sotto, son of Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Sison has to "take care" of the necessary substitution documents next week and he would join Domagoso in his Batangas visit on October 15, Ramel said.

Sison earlier filed a certificate of candidacy for Quezon City district representative before replacing De Castro in the Senate race.

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