Senate poser: Will Estrada brothers sit side by side?

One of the highly anticipated moments at the opening of the 16th Congress in July is whether Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and his brother Senator-elect JV Ejercito will sit side by side in the session hall.

The brothers are famously known for not seeing eye to eye.

Estrada, the elder of the two sons of former President Joseph Estrada, doused reporters’ hopes of a photo with his brother worthy of inclusion in the family album.

Senators are seated alphabetically at the beginning of every Congress when they take their oath of office. This means that since the brothers have the same surnames, they are supposed to be seated side by side during the first roll call.

But insiders wondered whether they would agree.

Jinggoy, as acting Senate President, will have to go to the rostrum first to open the session on the first day. But once the new Senate President is elected, he would have to take his seat—beside JV.

Not really, Jinggoy insisted at the Kapihan sa Senado forum on Friday.

“If JV uses Ejercito and I use Estrada, then (Sen. Francis) Chiz Escudero would be seated between us,” he said.

But since Escudero belongs to the new Senate majority in the new Congress, he would be seated in a different row as senators of the majority and minority blocs are grouped separately.

Jinggoy and JV both belong to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), where their father, Manila Mayor-elect Joseph Estrada is a stalwart.

But there’s Enrile

Jinggoy thought hard then blurted out, “There’s still (Sen. Juan Ponce) Enrile!”

Since Enrile is no longer Senate President, he would have to join the lesser mortals seated alphabetically.

Logic dictates that since the “N” in Enrile’s surname comes between the “J” in Ejercito and the “S” in Estrada, the former Senate chief will find himself between JV and Jinggoy.

Jinggoy resigned

This means all is fine as far as Jinggoy is concerned—unless JV decides to use the surname Estrada as well.

“Most probably we’ll be seated together,” Jinggoy said in mock defeat.

Turning serious, Jinggoy maintained he would rather not have enemies in the Senate and it would not be really his call where the new Senate majority would seat him.

“Bahala na sila kung saan kami iupo (It’s up to them where they would seat us),” he said.

Jinggoy added he was aware he might also be assigned an office beside JV’s on the fifth floor, where all senators receive visitors.

Jinggoy currently works on the sixth floor, where the Office of the Senate President Pro Tempore—his position before he became acting Senate head—is located. He does not expect to stay there long given the anticipated leadership change.

“I would not mind even if they give us adjacent rooms,” he said finally.  “Is that what you want?”