Osmeña skipping meeting between senators and Aquino on BBL

Sen. Serge Osmeña III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Sen. Serge Osmeña III on Tuesday said he was skipping any planned meeting between the President and the senators on the proposed BBL because he did not want it said that he was enticed with “goodies” in exchange for his vote.

“No need (to go to the meeting). What will I do there? They might say I received pork barrel funds,” he said.

Senate President Frank Drilon said the goal of a possible meeting with Aquino was to reconcile any differences of the views of the senators on the BBL.

Osmeña said a meeting between the President and the lawmakers is “always a valid political activity” and the “intelligent and rational” purpose for it had to do with the President explaining the importance of the bill and its passage.

But he believes it would be “close to impossible” for the Senate to pass the BBL by June 11.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the chair of the Senate local government committee, said he was open to meeting with the President “for a genuine discussion on how to iron out the kinks” in the BBL but not when the meeting would be meant “to muscle the Senate into passing Malacañang’s version of BBL.”

Sen. Francis Escudero said he was “okay” about meeting with the President and only showed that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process was not doing its job.

There is nothing wrong with meeting with Aquino if the meeting is not hidden and the discussions there are made clear to the senators, he said.–Christine Avendaño