‘Been there, done that’

At this early stage, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives are already busy jockeying for key positions in the incoming 16th Congress. Of course, the administration bloc gets the upper hand with the results of the just concluded May 13 mid-term elections working in their favor. It is the natural tendency of any electoral contest where the victors get to enjoy the spoils.

In the Senate race, nine of the administration-backed Team PNoy candidates made it while the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) managed only to get three bets into the “magic 12” winning circle.

At the House, more than 105 winning congressional candidates belong to the ruling administration Liberal Party (LP). As the highest elected official of LP, President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III will have greater control over the Lower Chamber to push his administration’s legislative agenda for the remaining half of his term of office.

The composition of the incoming 16th Congress thus gives comfort to President Aquino to pursue with ease and speed up vital legislation as his priority bills and block any that is not consistent with his own priorities like the renewed initiatives on Charter change. This P-Noy will spell out when he delivers his next State of the Nation Address at the joint opening sessions of the 16th Congress on July 22.

It’s already a cinch incumbent Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. will continue to head the House in the 16th Congress. The battle though for leadership in Congress is more focused in the race for Senate president.

The Senate is known for being a rabidly autonomous chamber. The 24 senators are in fact, sometimes called the “independent republics” in the discharge of their functions as chief fiscalizers of the executive branch.

Why is there so much ado about the Senate presidency? Under our 1987 Constitution, the Senate president is the third highest elected official in the line of succession in the government, next to the President and the Vice President, in that order.

The Senate President is widely regarded as the most powerful figure in the Senate because he is the presiding officer and the leader of the majority group.  The cooperation and good relationship between the Senate president and the majority of senators, and Malacañang are critical for the speedy approval of priority legislation.

This would be a tough challenge, especially for the nine newly proclaimed senators of Team PNoy who belong to a loose coalition of parties that have allied with the Aquino administration for political convenience in the last May 13 elections. This included the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and two independent candidates.

The NP ranks at the Senate get a boost with the re-election of Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV and former Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, wife of outgoing Sen. Manny Villar who is NP president. They will join two incumbent NP Senators Pia Cayetano and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

With five members, NP is now regarded as a key bloc to provide the votes needed in the election of the new Senate president as well as votes on key legislation and policy issues in the next Congress.

Incumbent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and his allies Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III will remain a solid bloc in the Chamber even if they lose their posts in the reorganization in the next Senate. They will have reinforcements from the three winning UNA bets, namely, re-electionist Sen. Gregorio Honasan, and newly proclaimed Senators-elect JV Ejercito Estrada and Nancy Binay to comprise the minority bloc in the 16th Congress.

Though elected as “independent” candidates, re-electionist Sen. Chiz Escudero and Grace Poe along with another re-electionist Sen. Loren Legarda (NPC) could provide the “swing” votes if there will be a tight race for the Senate leadership.

Anyone of the 24 senators vying to become Senate president only needs 13 votes to clinch the post. Should there be a need to break a tie, an aspirant for the post must naturally vote for himself.

For now, it seems Sen. Franklin Drilon already has the numbers. As of last headcount, Drilon could get as many as 16 votes. In fact, this apparently bolstered his confidence to finally come out openly about his willingness and interest to become Senate chief anew. 

To begin with, Drilon, the LP vice chairman, has fellow LP members, Senators Teofisto Guingona III and Ralph Recto, to back his bid. He has also with him LP allies, namely: newly proclaimed Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (PDP-Laban) and Sen. Sergio Osmeña lll, erstwhile PDP-Laban but now identifying himself as “independent.”  

Drilon could also count on the vote of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who has a long-running feud with Enrile over the Senate chief’s controversial unequal distribution of additional maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) funds last year to the senators.

Drilon could also get the votes of Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid who are the remaining Lakas-CMD members at the Senate.

Drilon disclosed his talks with Villar to continue their coalition and put up a common candidate for Senate president. According to Drilon, Villar agreed to this proposition and that NP along with the other allies of the administration in Team PNoy would support a common candidate for Senate president.

It goes without saying Drilon would be that Senate president they would support. After all, Drilon served as the campaign manager of Team PNoy in the last election.

Should he ever become Senate president, Drilon vows he will be fair when it comes to distribution of Senate benefits, especially the MOOE of senators. When he was Senate president during the 11th Congress, Drilon recalled he also had to make hard choices on what to do with the Senate’s savings at the end of the year.

As far as Drilon is concerned, becoming Senate chief is nothing new to him. “Been there, done that,” Drilon quipped. So there is no need for Drilon to re-invent himself. He, however, must do his homework to win over the support of the Senate personnel who will be missing the benevolent leadership of Enrile.