Drilon hits senators’ bid to override SSS veto

Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senate President Franklin Drilon on Wednesday accused his colleagues in the Senate of politicking for drafting a resolution expressing their desire to override the President Aquino’s veto on the P2,000  increase in the Social Security System pension for retirees, saying they want to isolate the president.

The draft resolution is being circulated among senators and is expected to be filed once it gets the signature of majority of the members.

Drilon, who earlier favored the pension increase bill, said any move to override the President’s veto must come from the House of Representatives where the measure originated.

This also means that the proposed resolution, which would express the sentiment of the Senate opposing the President’s veto, has no legal effect, said Drilon.

“There is no resolution overriding [the veto] from the House. So how can we even take it up at the Senate? So they really want to isolate the President and it’s dictated by the political season,” Drilon told reporters.

“It has no legal effect, and therefore it is very clear that this is just politicking,” he added.

In case the draft resolution is filed, the Senate would have to debate whether it is proper or in order, he said.

For the President’s veto to be overturned, two-thirds of the members of each chamber of Congress must vote to do it.

This means that 16 votes would be needed in the Senate, but Drilon noted that mustering an attendance of even 15 senators had been difficult to achieve in the plenary.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the proposed resolution was not intended to actually override the veto, but to express the sense of the senators that this should be done.

The senators are well aware that the actual move to override the veto must be done first by the House, said Escudero, who earlier called on his colleagues to challenge the President’s rejection of the measure.

The purpose of the draft resolution was to send a message to the House and to convince them to counter the veto, he said.

Escudero said he hopes his colleagues who had voted to approve the SSS pension hike would also vote to override the veto when the time comes to do so.