Rumors of political elbowing mar Senate presidency race

As the Senate presidency race heats up, rumors of political elbowing are surfacing, the latest of which have focused on the controversial 2007 senatorial race between Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III. On Thursday, at least two senators said the race for the top Senate post has nothing to do with the decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) to allow Zubiri to proceed with his counter protest against Pimentel, whom he defeated in the race for the 12th senatorial slot in the 2007 elections. Senators Edgardo Angara and Sergio "Serge" Osmeña III issued similar statements after Pimentel claimed that the approval of the protest was used as a bargaining chip for a vote in the race for the Senate presidency. Pimentel ranked 13th in the 2007 senatorial elections while Zubiri managed to get the 12th and final seat at the time. Pimentel contested Zubiri's win, and the SET ruled in 2008 that he actually won by more than 200,000 votes. Zubiri, however, filed a counter protest and said that he was cheated in more than 73,000 precincts, out of the the country's total of more than 224,700 precincts in the 2007 elections. Last June 4, the SET — voting 7-2 — allowed Zubiri to proceed with the revision of the results. Included in the seven who were in favor of the revision were Senators Angara, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, Lito Lapid, and Francis Pangilinan, and Supreme Court Associate Justices Teresita de Castro and Presbitero Velasco Jr. The SET is composed of three Supreme Court justices and six members of the Senate, and is tasked with the work of hearing and deciding on electoral protest cases on the senatorial elections. No connection In a text message to GMANews.TV, however, Angara dismissed Pimentel's assertion that Senate politics had anything to do with their vote in the SET as "far-fetched" and "superficial." Osmeña also explained that the protest could have not been used as a bargaining chip, because the SET approved a recount of the precincts where Zubiri claims he had been cheated long before the Senate tackled the question of voting for a new president. "I don't think that can be a bargaining chip because if you want a bargaining chip, don't sign and get a promise," he told reporters during a weekly forum at the Senate on Thursday. He added that aspirants for the Senate presidency, Senators Pangilinan and Manuel Villar, could not have "pressured" Zubiri into any vote because he had been out of the country for most of the session break. Zubiri is widely known to be part of Angara's bloc, which is considered to provide the "swing vote" that could decide the Senate presidential race. Reportedly siding with the two are Senators Legarda, Lapid, Gregorio Honasan, Tito Sotto, and Ramon Bong Revilla. Pangilinan is said to enjoy the sure support of fellow Liberal Party members Senators Franklin Drilon, Teofisto Guingona III, and Ralph Recto. On the other hand, Nationalista Party's (NP) Villar expects to get the votes of Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pilar Juliana Cayetano, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Joker Arroyo, and Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who all ran under NP. A senator needs 13 votes to secure the Senate presidency. Under the Constitution, majority of the Senate is pegged at 13 because the number of senators is fixed at 24. No done deal yet Osmeña claims that Pangilinan already has 11 votes at hand, including that of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. The detained Trillanes, however, cannot exercise voting powers unless a court allows him to attend the sessions. Trillanes ran under Villar's NP during the 2007 senatorial elections but Osmeña said the detained senator "saw the light" and has since decided to support Pangilinan. Osmeña refused to reveal the names of the other senators who have reportedly expressed support for Pangilinan. "I'm not at liberty to name because they themselves, some of those who signed, did not want to divulge (their vote)," he said. He likewise said that people can "speculate all they want" but that it's still anyone's game. "Nothing's a done deal yet (but) I'm optimistic that Pangilinan is closer to getting it (the 13 votes)," he said. Angara said that his bloc's choice will reflect their legislative agenda and priorities. “We maintain ties as blocs because we want to have a say in the reforms we want to push for. We want to have an influence on the content of the legislative agenda," said the senator, who was also a former Senate president. Angara said that in the 15th Congress, he will push for the amendment of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Charter, the Collective Investment Schemes Law, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). “We will eventually have to agree for the sake of pushing for reforms that are of utmost importance to the country and to the people," he said. —VVP/JV, GMANews.TV