MANILA – Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez on Wednesday said his wife Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez never wanted to run for senator in the 2022 national elections despite invitations from several groups.

One faction of ruling party PDP-Laban and Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier said that Torres-Gomez would join their respective Senate slates, but the Leyte lawmaker eventually announced that she would run for Ormoc mayor instead.

“She had no plans of running (for) the Senate,” Gomez told ABS-CBN News.

“She said no because we have things to do in Ormoc. We have to fix Ormoc and the district in spite of the good survey results,” he said.

• Richard, Lucy to swap posts in 2022

Gomez denied observations that his wife decided to run for a local post to avoid offending several political friends should she finally choose which Senate slate to join.

“Si Lucy is a very friendly person. Hindi siya naiipit kasi iniinvite lang naman siya so there is no cause para maipit siya,” he said.

“I don’t think nasa isip niya yung maiipit o hindi… running for the Senate is not her plan,” he said.

Torres-Gomez has exhausted 3 consecutive terms as Leyte representative, and is prohibited by the Constitution to run for the same post in the next elections.

The husband and wife will be switching positions should they both win in the 2022 elections.