MANILA - The next Congress is set to open late next month but already senators are being wooed and their commitment sought by those eyeing the Senate presidency.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago Monday said she had signed a draft resolution in support of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr.’s bid to be the next Senate president, adding that it looked like Villar had the chamber leadership in the bag.
Aside from Villar of the Nacionalista Party, others eyeing the Senate leadership are Sen. Francis Pangilinan and incoming Sen. Franklin Drilon, both of the Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party has yet to decide who between Drilon and Pangilinan it would put up for the Senate leadership.
Sen. Edgardo Angara had earlier said his seven-member bloc would decide the presidency of the chamber.
Angara counted among its members the “Magnificent 5” which includes himself, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Loren Legarda, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid, as well as Vicente Sotto III and Gregorio Honasan.
Thirteen votes are needed to elect the Senate president.
Interviewed by reporters, Santiago scoffed at statements by other senators that their respective blocs had the numbers to win the chamber presidency.
“If everybody has the numbers, how can that be possible since there are only 23 senators, in fact less than 23 I think. So it must be obvious to everybody that all the sides are trying to wage a propaganda battle. I don’t think that’s how the presidency of the Senate should be decided,” she said.
Santiago, who ran as a guest candidate in the Nacionalista Party headed by Villar, said she had a “suspicion” that Villar “already has the votes” but that he “just doesn’t go around boasting about it.”
She said that when she signed the pro-Villar resolution some time ago, she saw the names of five senators on it, including some who had said they were supporting other candidates for Senate president.
She said that aside from Villar’s camp, another group had approached her to support their candidate.
She said she felt a “little flattered” because in the past “nobody ever approached me; I think because of the widespread perception that I’m very difficult to talk to.”
Santiago stressed she had made up her mind to support Villar.
“I cannot run with a person as the leader of the ticket and just turn my back on him. In the first place, I would not have run with him if I did not subscribe to his political philosophy and to his ideology and, of course, I’m willing to attest to his character,” she said.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
