Secret balloting to choose Senate prexy goes pfft

The plan of the opposition bloc in the Senate to settle the issue of the Senate presidency via secret balloting failed to push through after only six of them showed up in the group's meeting Friday. Earlier, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Manuel Roxas II said in separate interviews that the opposition group would hold a secret balloting to choose the new Senate President between contenders Sen. Manuel Villar and Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. After the meeting at the Manila Golf Club, the opposition bloc merely issued a joint press statement calling on all opposition senators to remain united to ensure the opposition would dictate the leadership of the upper chamber. Earlier, Senator-elect Francis Escudero who ran under the Genuine Opposition, said the secret balloting might not push through because they lack the numbers to install a Senate President and that such a procedure could even drive wedges among the various opposition groups. But in their joint statement, the opposition claimed they have already 15 senators and they are more than the 13 from the 23-member chamber to elect a Senate President. "Seven GO (Genuine Opposition) candidates and two independents have already been proclaimed. When added to the six incumbent opposition and independent senators, there will be a total of 15 senators who are not allied with the administration," the joint statement said. "We believe that our objective is to remain united and to elect from among the 15 a Senate President who clearly and consistently embodies our values and principles. Accordingly, we collectively commit to participate in and abide by the results of any democratic process in order to elect the leadership of the Senate," they added. The joint press statement was signed by the opposition senators who were present in the meeting, including Lacson, Roxas, Rodolfo Biazon, Loren Legarda, Benigno Aquino III, and Ma. Ana Consuelo Madrigal. Pimentel name was also included in the statement, with the words "by phone," along with the names of Antonio Trillanes IV and Jose “Jinggoy" Estrada, which bore similar notation. Escudero, who earlier said he was uncomfortable with the idea of a secret balloting, was reportedly accompanying his pregnant wife for a hospital checkup. Saying the opposition bloc must remain united for the country's good, the joint press statement also quoted the late President Manuel Luis Quezon's famous line: "My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my county begins." Ironically, Quezon was a stalwart of the Nacionalista Party, of which Villar is the incumbent president. Villar is considered a possible contender to the presidential election in 2010. Lacson and Roxas, who were among those who apparently pushed the secret balloting, were also reportedly eyeing the presidency. Political observers said the two will likely support Pimentel in the contest for the Senate presidency. Apparently, the opposition bloc included in their count independent candidates Francis Pangilinan and Gregorio Honasan. Pangilinan, however, is likely to support Villar, a fellow member of the "Wednesday Club." Honasan had reportedly talked with Malacañang before the elections. With the decision of the Department of Justice to drop the rebellion charges against Honasan, there is a possibility the latter could opt to ally himself with the administration. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, considered as Honasan's mentor and a veteran legislator, earlier said that he would support Villar and that the latter could eventually get the support of more than 13 senators to enable him to retain the Senate presidency in the coming 14th Congress. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, an ally of the administration, had characterized the opposition's plan to conduct secret balloting to select the new Senate President as "too utopian and impractical." - GMANews.TV