Senators Alan Peter Cayetano (L) and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. FILE PHOTOS
As the “supermajority” backing Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III’s bid for Senate president got first crack at committee chairmanships, senators aligned with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said they were awaiting word from President-elect Rodrigo Duterte before considering Pimentel’s invitation to join his group.
Senator-elect Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Thursday he and the three senators supporting Cayetano’s bid for the Senate presidency were not yet ready to respond to Pimentel’s invitation, not until after the latter meets with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
“We will await the outcome of that meeting,” said Zubiri in a phone interview. He counted as Cayetano’s allies fellow Senator-elect Richard Gordon and Senators Cynthia Villar and JV Ejercito.
He said he decided to support Cayetano after learning he is Duterte’s choice for Senate president from separate sources, including incoming Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, incoming Presidential Management Staff chief Christopher “Bong” Go and Ejercito.
Pimentel, a party mate of Duterte’s in PDP-Laban and the lone member of the party in the Senate, is the presumptive incoming Senate president after he received the support of the senators who had initially backed outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Vicente Sotto for the chamber leadership.
The “supermajority” is made up of 16 senators belonging to the Liberal Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, United Nationalist Alliance, Akbayan and Cibac.
14 signatures
On Thursday, Pimentel and Sotto, in separate phone interviews, said that so far they had 14 signatures on the resolution backing the former because two senators-elect were out of town—Manny Pacquiao and Joel Villanueva who had committed to support Pimentel.
Sotto also announced the committees the 14 senators will chair, which Zubiri also protested on Thursday.
Zubiri said he asked Go about this and was told to “wait for further advice” as Duterte will talk to Pimentel.
Zubiri said he did not know what Duterte would say to Pimentel, but it was “too early to make decisions” because the situation was “still too fluid.”
But he added that “anything was possible,” including turning his support to Pimentel if Duterte tells him to do so.
He pointed out however that getting the majority behind Pimentel should not be the only consideration for committee chairmanships.
“A supermajority is fine but it depends on the composition of the committee chairmanships. We are just being practical about it … there are certain key positions in the Senate and the House that are given to allies of the administration. That’s the practicality of it without beating around the bush,” Zubiri said.
He said he considered his group the “primary allies” of Duterte.
He said there were certain committees the “president [would] want to have a say on,” committees backing his advocacies like public order, finance, justice and human rights, and constitutional amendments—
the last one crucial to his bid for a federalist state.
“Do you think the president will allow a non-ally as chair of the committee on justice and human rights, on public order?” Zubiri said.
Positions for Ping, Leila
In the Pimentel supermajority group, Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson will chair the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, while Senator-elect Leila de Lima will head the committee on justice and human rights. Both Lacson and De Lima had opposed certain positions taken by Duterte during the presidential campaign.
Reacting to Zubiri’s statement, Pimentel said: “How do we determine a key ally?”
Answering his own question, he said a key ally was one who was with Duterte during the election campaign—which made him and Cayetano the only ones who could be considered his allies.
He said as PDP-Laban president, he authorized Duterte’s presidential run, justified his campaign and campaigned for him, while Cayetano was Duterte’s “adopted vice presidential candidate.”
“Don’t use the key ally argument because it applies to only two people—that’s me and Alan,” Pimentel said.
On the committee chairmanships, Sotto said Sen. Loren Legarda will head the finance panel, although this was also preferred by Sen. Ralph Recto.