"I am a member of the minority, but I will not join any move to replace Drilon," he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda has been persuaded to stay on as majority leader to enable the Senate to pass important pieces of legislation still pending in the chamber, Drilon said yesterday.
"We discussed the matter of the majority leadership and Senator Legarda will stay as majority leader. She has been performing her job well. She has been my partner in running the legislative agenda," Drilon said after meeting with Legarda, Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier and Sen. Ramon Magsaysay at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.
Osmeña made the statement in the wake of persistent speculations that a coup in the smaller chamber of Congress was imminent since the death of Sen. Rene Cayetano has made the majority’s margin over the minority thinner. The majority has 12 members while there are 10 opposition senators.
It also came amid talks among members of Drilon’s majority on who will take over the committee on education and the committee on energy, which Cayetano chaired.
Osmeña and another Osmeña, Sergio III, who also belongs to the minority, are candidates for the chairmanship of the energy committee. But both could possibly face a conflict of interest issue: John Henry is related to the Aboitizes, while Sergio III is married to a Lopez. The two rich families are into the electricity generation and distribution businesses.
Osmeña said any group in the Senate that moves against Drilon would need 13 votes to replace him.
"If the nine-member minority decides to oust Drilon, it would need four more votes, as I would not join any such move," he said.
He said one possible way of removing the Senate head is for eight members of the minority to join forces with the so-called House bloc or Wednesday Group composed of Joker Arroyo, Manuel Villar Jr., Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, and Noli de Castro.
"But such an alliance is remote, so I don’t see any danger to Drilon’s tenure. The House bloc is the noisiest group and has often ruffled feathers with the minority, especially Senators Edgardo Angara and Vicente Sotto III. I doubt if the minority would join forces with them," he stressed.
There are reports that the opposition led by Sotto as minority leader is recruiting Villar and eyeing him as replacement for Drilon.
However, Villar, if he takes the enticements of the minority, won’t be able to bring with him the rest of the Wednesday Group, so-called because its members meet regularly on Wednesdays.
On the issue of majority leadership, Drilon said he still needs Legarda to help him complete the legislative agenda of Congress.
He admitted he has been consulting members of the majority on the matter of vacant committee chairmanships after the death of Cayetano.
"We are still in the process of discussing it," he said, adding he would also meet with members of the minority to get their side.
For her part, Legarda said that she will place national interest over "personal interest."
"I think it should be national interest over and above personal interest. While it could be desirable to chair a committee, there are still very important pieces of legislation that have to be passed in the Senate," she said.
Legarda’s decision means she will no longer be seeking the chair of the education committee, in which she earlier expressed interest.
"I will continue to give my best in the position" of majority leader, she said, though "it is not an easy job."