A day before the official start of the campaign season, AGRI Partylist Rep. Wilbert Lee announced that he was withdrawing from the Senate race.

In a Facebook Live broadcast, Lee acknowledged that he realized his political machinery alone was not sufficient to reach all Filipinos.

“We went through careful consideration about our decision to join the senatorial race here in the upcoming election,” Lee said.

However, after talks with his family and colleagues from AGRI Partylist, Lee decided to withdraw his candidacy.

“This is a very difficult decision for me because I really believe in my advocacies and I wanted to bring them to the Senate,” he continued.

“But after sincere prayer, thinking, and consultations, I believe that this is the right thing to do at the moment,” he added.

Lee was the first senatorial aspirant to file his certificate of candidacy (CoC) before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on 1 October last year.

He is the third senatorial hopeful to withdraw their CoC, following former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson and internet personality Norman Mangusin, better known as Francis Leo Marcos.

Singson withdrew on 16 January due to health issues, while Mangusin followed suit on 23 January, backing the reelection bid of Senator Imee Marcos.

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia stated that votes for Lee will now be counted as stray votes.