Sotto sees no possibility of Senate leadership change

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senate majority floor leader Vicente Sotto III said that he does not see the possibility of a change in leadership in the Senate after Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he intends to oust Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

There was “no pending Senate leadership change,” Sotto said in a phone patch interview with reporters Friday.

In the previous administration, he said “there were 11 or 10 who wanted to change the leadership but they did not succeed. What more if there was only one [wanting a leadership change]?”

But he stressed that any move to change the Senate would just be “okay” for them.

“We are not clingy,” Sotto said.

Trillanes and Enrile had exchanged heated words over the issue of former engaging in back channel talks with China and the alleged lobbying of Enrile for the creation of Nueva Camarines province.

The word war between the two was not going to affect the work at the Senate, Sotto said. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no effect. We will not let anything affect the work of the senate.”

When asked about Trillanes’ move to join the minority bloc, Sotto said there would be no effect since there was no “real majority or minority” in the Senate under Enrile’s watch.

Asked if it would be healthy for the Senate to have a “true minority” with Trillanes, Sotto replied that “it’s already healthy [even before Trillanes].”

Trillanes was also not likely to be removed as chairman of the Senate committee on civil service and government reorganization, Sotto said. “I doubt it, [Enrile] is not like that,” he said.