Sen. Cynthia Villar. Screen grab/ Senate PRIB file photo
MANILA, Philippines —Senator Cynthia Villar has offered to share the Senate presidency with Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri.
This is according to Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who is brokering talks between Villar and Zubiri, who are poised to run for Senate President.
“Open naman si Senator Cynthia ng term-sharing. In fact, nag offer sya noon pa. Nag offer sya na ganun [Senator Synthia is open to term sharing, in fact she offered it before],” Dela Rosa revealed on Tuesday in an interview with reporters at the Senate.
“I’m not sure with Migz (Zubiri’s nickname) kung ok sa kanya pero si Maam Cynthia, ok naman sya sa term-sharing [I’m not sure if Migz is OK with that, but Ma’am Cynthia is fine with term sharing],” he said.
Dela Rosa said Villar herself offered the term-sharing deal to Zubiri “in the not so distant past.”
“Narinig ko parang days before the election or after election na. Basta not so distant past,” he pointed out.
But in an interview on Monday, Zubiri said they have yet to discuss the issue of term-sharing as some members of their “seatmates” bloc do not agree to it.
“Term-sharing is something that still has to be discussed because I have members of my bloc who don’t like the idea of term-sharing unfortunately,” he said.
Asked why, Zubiri said: “No comment na lang…All I can say is some members of my bloc don’t agree to term-sharing.”
The “seatmates” bloc is composed of Zubiri, Senators Joel Villanueva, Sonny Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Nancy Binay, and Senator-elect JV Ejercito.
Aside from Villar and Zubiri, other names have also been floated as possible contenders for the Senate presidency, including Gatchalian and Senator-elect Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
“Nag-open din siya ng kanyang intention to run as Senate President so isa rin siya pwedeng pagpilian [He opened up with his intention to run for Senate President so he is one of the possible contenders],” Dela Rosa further said of Gatchalian.