Pimentel: Edsa, Lascañas nothing to do with Senate shakeup

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. KRISTINE SABILLO/
INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday said that the recently concluded Edsa People Power 31st anniversary and the upcoming Senate hearing on retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas have nothing to do with the Senate shakeup.

The Senate leadership on Monday formed a new majority, stripping senators from Liberal Party (LP) of their key committee chairperson posts.

READ: LP senators, Hontiveros stripped of committee chairmanships

“Hindi ito tungkol sa Edsa, tungkol ito sa nakalipas na pito hanggang walong buwan na pagsasamahan bilang so-called supermajority. Pero ang pakiramdam namin ay mayroon silang dalawang grupo sa loob. November, December ko pa nadidinig na mayroong dalawang samahan,” Pimentel said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer.

(This is not about Edsa, this is about the past seven to eight months as so-called supermajority. But we could feel that there were two groups. I’ve been hearing about the two groups last November and December.)

He reiterated that “clear lines have to be drawn.”

READ: ‘Clear lines have to be drawn,’ says Pimentel on Senate shakeup

Pimentel said that the Senate majority bloc will have 18 senators, while the minority will have six members.

Franklin Drilon, the LP vice chair, is now the Senate minority leader. He, along with Senators Francis Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, Leila de Lima and Risa Hontiveros, will join Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV in the new minority bloc.

“Tama lang ang nangyari, ang prediksyon kasi namin minority talaga ang kanilang kilos. Kahapon naisapormal lang na minority nga sila at naiwanan naman sila ng tig-iisang komite (What happened was appropriate. We could predict they were acting like the minority. Yesterday, it was formalized that they belong to the minority and each of them was given a committee),” Pimentel said. RAM