In politics, the struggle for more power never seems to be over.
Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Tito Sotto appear to be among the contenders in the battle for the Senate presidency in the 17th Congress. Both senators are said to be intensifying their efforts to woo their fellow senators to their side.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
“On Mon, May 30, Cayetano said he had gotten the commitment of ‘more or less’ 15 senators for his bid for the Senate leadership,” reports Christine O. Avendaño in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
For his part, as the report indicated, “Sotto said he was in talks with 17 senators to form a new Senate majority that would include Sen. Koko Pimentel III.”
However, Pimentel disclosed that he himself “was still very much in the running for the top Senate post.” He added that the race “remained a four-way fight among Cayetano, Sotto, current Senate President Franklin Drilon and himself.”
“We are all friends. This is a friendly competition to win the hearts and minds of our colleagues,” Pimentel said.
As for Drilon, he has stated that he would readily yield the Senate presidency on July 25 when the new Congress opens its session to “whoever has the signatures of 13 senators.”
