Just when we think it’s all OK, we find out that it isn’t.
During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Wed, Jun 8, Senator Franklin Drilon confirmed that “16 or 17 senators” from the Liberal Party, Akbayan, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, and Nationalist People’s Coalition were backing Senator Koko Pimentel as the new Senate President.
READ: Koko Pimentel is next Senate President
However, what Senator Joel Villanueva revealed in a Tue, Jun 28 Radyo Inquirer interview could indicate that things are not yet settled at the Senate.
According to Villanueva, he was told by Pimentel that Cayetano is set to meet with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte this week to discuss the Senate presidency issue.
Villanueva’s revelation implied that Cayetano is still not giving up the highest post in the Senate.
“Villanueva said that he hoped that Pimentel and Cayetano would be able to reach an agreement as to who would become the next Senate President. The neophyte senator also said that ‘both Pimentel and Cayetano offered him the chairmanship of the labor committee,’ ” reports Inquirer.net.
“Pimentel has claimed that he has the backing of the ‘supermajority’ to become the next Senate President. He has even named senators to some posts, such as outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon as the Senate pro-tempore; Sen. Vicente Sotto III as majority leader, Sen. Panfilo Lacson as chair of the public order and dangerous drugs committee; and Sen. Leila de Lima as head of the justice committee,” the report added.
Cayetano, who was Duterte’s running-mate in the May 9 elections, has reportedly “expressed misgivings on the proposed appointments of Lacson and De Lima to their posts.”
