Sotto confirms conflict over committee chairmanships

Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines —  Some recently elected senators want to get the committee chairmanships of incumbent senators,  Senate  President  Vicente  “Tito”  Sotto  III said  Wednesday.

Sotto answered “yes” in a text message when asked to confirm a “conflict” raging between incoming and incumbent senators over committee chairmanships in the Senate.

This came after he told a radio interview that aside from returning senators, who want to get back the committees they previously chaired,  there are also incoming senators who want to get the chairmanships from incumbent senators.

“May mga ganun e (returning senators wanting to get back their previous chairmanships). At meron ding mga bago na yung  kursunadang komite ay merong incumbent na hindi reelectionist, nakaupo talaga. Mabigat na yun,” he said over dzMM.

Asked how they would solve the problem, Sotto said they would explain to neophyte senators the equity of the incumbent rule being observed in the Senate.

“Pipilitin muna namin na ipa -realize  sa kanila na pagdating ng 2022, sila naman yung senior. Hindi  nila gustong  gawin sa kanila yun gusto nilang gawin ngayon,” he said. 

The incumbent senators may hand over their chairmanships to neophytes only if they voluntarily let go of them.

Sotto also clarified that the choice of the chairmanships was not decided by the Senate President.

“Lahat yun binobotohan natin… Ang akala ng mga bago, ako ang may hawak nito, ang Senate President lang,” he said.

What the  Senate President can only do, he said, is to get a consensus if there are conflicts among senators. 

Despite this, Sotto remains hopeful they would be able to settle the problem when the incumbents and neophytes meet, probably next week.

“Tapos dun, pwede nang magpakiusapan.  Kung tatlo kayo, kursunada nyo ang isang komite, mag usap na kayong tatlo. tapos iboboto namin kayo,”  he said.

The committee chairmanships, after all, are decided and elected on the Senate floor.

But as much as possible,  Sotto said, they try to settle the conflicts on the chairmanships before bringing it to the plenary.

“…Dahil ang nangyayari dun,   biglang dumadami ang member ng minority,”  he said in  jest.

It was  Senator Manny Pacquiao, who belongs to the ruling PDP-Laban,  who exposed the disputes over the committee chairmanships.

READ: Pacquiao bares disputes over committee chairmanships

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