The talks are being conducted as opposition leader Sen. Edgardo Angara predicted that the "hopelessness" of the Arroyo administration will drive its current allies away and strengthen the opposition.
Angara, president of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, said President Arroyo’s "ineptness" in running the government would impel political leaders to move away.
But Biazon said the opposition also appreciates the need to cooperate with the administration and break the impasse in the Senate before Congress opens is second regular session on July 22.
"There are exploratory talks," Biazon said during the Kapihan sa Sulo breakfast forum in Quezon City but he refused to reveal details.
Administration Sen. Loren Legarda was the first to support the call of Speaker Jose de Venecia to forge a working coalition in the Senate to ensure that vital legislation would not be derailed by partisan politics.
But if the working coalition does not push through by July 22, Biazon said the opposition bloc would have to call for a division of the house to validate the reorganization that they iniated after Sen. John Osmeña transfered to the opposition on June 3.
Although the two camps are evenly divided with 12 senators on each side, all the opposition senators can vote but only 11 administration senators would be able to vote because Senate President Franklin Drilon would be the presiding officer.
"(And) under the rules, (the presiding officer) can only cast his vote during a tie. If he (votes) in violation of the rules, the Senate would be paralyzed," Biazon said.
The talks are being conducted as the administration continues to pursue its plan of regaining control of the Senate by recruiting opposition senators to join the administration bloc.
But Angara slammed the administration’s "raiding" forays and said the Arroyo administration would more likely drive away its allies and strengthen the opposition.
"The evidence is clear that President Arroyo does not know how to run a government. The people are not blind," he said.
"It is to a common interest that everybody join the opposition," he said, as he expressed confidence that only one opposition candidate would be fielded in the 2004 presidential elections.
He sought to allay apprehensions that the resurgence of the opposition would result in political disaster for the country.
He pointed out that the Ninth Congress was probably the most productive since the declaration of martial law although the Senate was in the hands of the opposition.
"The Ninth Congress during the Ramos administration, when Joe de Venecia was the Speaker and I was the Senate President, was most productive because Joe and I often discussed legislative priorities," Angara said.
He also predicted that many of the Cabinet members would fall out one by one.
"Magkakawatak-watak ang Cabinet sa taong ito (Cabinet members will go their separate ways this year)," he added.
He cited the case of Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona who has declared his plan to run for president, against Mrs. Arroyo, in 2004.
On Thursday, Guingona was fired from the foreign affairs portfolio and the job was offered to opposition Sen. Blas Ople.
Aside from Guingona, Angara said Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. and Education Secretary Raul Roco would also soon be out of the Cabinet.
Angara claimed that Lina is now getting impatient over the continued operation of jueteng in the country but when he bore down hard against the illegal numbers game, his post was offered to Biazon.
The administration has also offered the yet-to-be created position of "anti-narcotics czar" to opposition Sen. Vicente Sotto III while opposition Sen. Robert Jaworski is being promised a slot in the administration senatorial ticket in 2004 with "all campaign expenses paid."