Cayetano ‘independent’ for now

ONCE a frontrunner in the race for the Senate presidency, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has decided to take the back seat for now.

Appearing at the Senate after missing the opening of the session on Monday,  the senator said he would, for the meantime, serve as “vision-keeper” for President Duterte, his running mate in the May elections, while keeping himself unaligned.

“For now, I want to see who are supportive of (Mr. Duterte’s) legislative agenda, and who are not,” Cayetano said, adding that “anyone who pushes for (Duterte’s vision), I will consider an ally.”

Asked if his avowed role implied a distrust of the majority and its support for Mr. Duterte’s legislative agenda, Cayetano said: “Let me keep (that) to myself.”

He added:  “Before the majority was formed, my words, my opinion mattered. Now that it has been formed, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,” the lawmaker said.

“Who am I to say—there are 18 of you—so you can’t do this, you can’t do that? I will take their word for it. They are all senators, they are all honorable,” Cayetano said. Tarra Quismundo