13 senators to be elected in May

The Senate adopted yesterday a resolution calling for the election of 13 senators in May to fill up the vacancy caused by the elevation of Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona Jr. to the vice presidency.

The resolution, authored by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad, was among the last measures passed by the Senate as it suspended yesterday its storied Third Regular Session for the May 14 elections.

The Senate, however, allowed all standing committees and bicameral confe-rence committees to meet during the recess, which lasts up to June 3.

Pimentel said that the election of 13 senators will ensure the presence of the full complement of 24 senators in the 12th Congress, which convenes on the fourth Monday of July.

The 13th senator to be elected, however, will serve only the unexpired term of Guingona, or only up to June 30, 2004.

There were two previous instances when the electorate voted for an extra senator to fill up a vacancy. In those instances, there were specific candidates for the additional seat.

This time, the Senate deemed it best that whoever would place13th in the May elections would get the additional seat.

Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Sergio Osmena III said it would be difficult to get a candidate for the 13th seat only.

"The candidate would be spending as much as the regular candidate but he will sit for only three years," Osmena said.

The Senate resolution, however, did not make it clear if the election of 13 senators would make the parties field 13 candidates also, not just 12.

The last session of the Senate yesterday was also the last one for Guingona, who will take his oath today at Malacañang, and Sen. Raul Roco, who is set to assume his new post as education secretary on Feb. 14.

"This Congress will be more historical than other Congresses. This is the only Senate that had an impeachment court and triggered the fall of an incumbent president. History will be remembering this Senate, and I am proud to have belonged to it," Roco said.

He said that the impeachment was a defining moment of Philippine history, and it would be remembered even 80 or 100 years later.The impeachment trial, for a time being, threatened the traditional camaraderie among senators, with the solons divided into groups and with one group hardly talking with the other.

All past animosities and suspicions, however, appeared to have been forgotten. Roco, for instance, even expressed the hope that Sen. Gregorio Honasan III who belongs to an opposing political group would be re-elected in May.

This revived camaraderie was also shown with the decision of the new majority in the Senate not to change the leadership. The only change was in the old post of Guingona, which was assumed by Sen. Renato Cayetano. Sen. Loren Legarda is the new assistant minority leader.