The problem persisted despite last week’s defection of Sen. Robert Jaworski to the pro-administration bloc, giving back the coalition the majority rule with 13 members against the opposition’s 11.
With Malacañang’s recent announcement that opposition stalwart Sen. Blas Ople has accepted the foreign affairs portfolio vacated by Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., the opposition will be reduced further to just 10 members, giving the Lakas-NUCD-led pro-administration coalition a firm hold on the majority.
The majority leaders believed that they have to resolve first the controversy on the rump sessions before they could reorganize the standing committees again.
Senate President Pro Tempore Manuel Villar and Sen. Francis Pangilinan told The STAR that the committee assignments can be tackled after they have decided once and for all on the legality issue of the rump sessions.
Villar said the majority will meet today in a bid to put the issue to rest.
He admitted that the question on the legality of the June 3 to 6 sessions had been an enigma, and they do not want to aggravate the problem by tackling the committee assignments.
"The reorganization can wait. We might only end up arguing and achieving nothing. So it is best to settle the main issue (rump sessions) first," Villar stressed.
For his part, Pangilinan said the contested sessions cannot be recognized "because it sets a bad precedent that as long as you are not in the session hall, a reorganization can be done."
Pangilinan agreed with Villar that the controversy should be shelved for the time being. "This formula for chaos initiated by the opposition should be set aside first," he said.
He asserted that the opposition can elevate the issue to the Supreme Court if the majority decided through a vote that the questioned sessions were invalid.
The opposition senators declared themselves as the new majority after Sen. John Osmeña joined them, creating a deadlock at 12 members apiece.
They proceeded to reorganize the standing committees and passed four bills. They declared opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. as the new majority leader replacing Sen. Loren Legarda, but failed to oust Senate President Franklin Drilon because of the tie. Thirteen votes are needed to elect a new head of the chamber.
With Ople, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, inevitably joining the Arroyo Cabinet, the majority can take the committee, along with the finance and other committees held by Osmeña who has expressed his desire to let go of these positions.
Ople gave clear indications that his decision was meant "to help the chamber get out of the paralysis" created by the stalemate.
"There is an urgent need to restore civility in our political system and to eliminate the gridlock in the decision-making process so that the country can advance on all fronts," he stressed.
He added that he would consider serving as a bridge of reconciliation between the opposition and the Arroyo administration.
Drilon also favored setting aside the legality issue in favor of more important matters confronting the chamber.
Drilon ruled out any fireworks at the plenary today on the controversy, adding that the opposition could take the issue to the Supreme Court.
The legality issue has been preventing the senators to buckle down to work and deliberate on pending measures.
Leaders of both camps tried to resolve their differences over the legality issue as early as Tuesday last week, the second day of their second regular session.
During a caucus earlier on Tuesday attended by Senate President Pro Tempore Manuel Villar, Sen. Edgardo Angara, Legarda and Pimentel, a decision was reached that there would be no motion for the approval of the journal of the minority-led sessions on June 3 to 6.
The emotion-charged caucus delayed the session proper which lasted only a few minutes as the opposing sides continued to vigorously argue on Legarda’s status as majority leader, as well as the legality of the reorganization of the committees and the bills passed during the sessions in question.
Osmeña, whose defection caught most people by surprise, said some members of the opposition were against allowing Legarda to remain as majority leader because that would invalidate the June 3 to 6 meetings which the administration bloc categorized as a rump session.
Legarda remained confident that the controversy would be amicably settled this week.
To further complicate the situation, Jaworski dampened the enthusiasm of the majority members when he declared he would still vote with the minority on the legality of the questioned sessions, giving rise to the likelihood of another impasse.
But Legarda said the administration bloc remained undaunted by Jaworski’s threat, indicating he may still have a change of heart.
"Perhaps, he would abstain. Don’t worry, there will be a solution when the contentious issues are tackled next week," she said.
The four bills passed during the June 3 to 6 sessions which he all attended were the measures banning possession of chain saw and the free patent law, the absentee voting law, and an act creating the Department of Housing.
Also being wooed by the Palace was opposition Sen. Vicente Sotto III who was offered to "oversee" the creation of a superbody to spearhead the war against illegal drugs.
Mrs. Arroyo has clarified that Sotto need not resign from the Senate just to help create the new Dangerous Drugs Board envisioned by a newly ratified bill which he sponsored.
She said the offer to Sotto has nothing to do with partisan politics.
Sotto said he was flattered by the offer. "The problem on drugs is beyond the issue of politics and does not have anything to do with any political party."
He added that his party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, has no objections to his acceptance of the President’s invitation.