Zubiri on Senate presidency: I am inclined to support Cayetano
DAVAO CITY— Returning Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri on Saturday said he was “very inclined” to support Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as the next Senate President.
“I am very inclined to support Sen. Alan Cayetano,” Zubiri told reporters here in an ambush interview.
But he said he would still ask the “guidance” of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on whom to support as the next Senate President.
“I am going to seek the guidance of our President in Mindanao and find out who would he like to support,” he said in an interview with INQUIRER.net after meeting with Cayetano here.
He also met with Christopher “Bong” Go, the closest aide and executive assistant of Duterte, who was playing basketball with Cayetano here.
He said he was set to meet Duterte on Saturday night to pay a courtesy call.
“I would like to take the oppurtunity na tanungin din sa kanya, sino ba talaga ang gusto (niya) na maging Senate President kasi malaking issue yan ngayon e,” he said.
Although he said Go and incoming Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told him that Cayetano was the choice of Duterte, he still needed to “verify” it with the incoming President.
He said the role of the Senate President was important to push the priority legislation of the President.
While there is a super majority at the House of Representatives, he said the Senate “does not have cohesion.”
“It is very important that even if you have a super majority at the House, if you do not have cohesion in the Senate, di ba, we cannot pass legislation?” he said.
He admitted that Cayetano and Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III talked to him regarding the Senate presidency. He said Pimentel also expressed his desire to be the next Senate President.
Cayetano was the running mate of Duterte while Pimentel is the chair of PDP-Laban, the party of Duterte.
He said there would be a four-way fight for the Senate presidency as Sen. Vicente Sotto III and incumbent Senate President Franklin Drilon are also potential challengers for the position.
“Well I think so, he has a chance, a strong chance,” he said.
