By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
The conflict over committee chairmanships in the Senate heated up Monday after Senator Cynthia Villar, the No. 1 senator in the recently concluded elections, confronted two of her colleagues from the majority bloc.
Senator Cynthia Villar (L) and Senator Manny Pacquiao (R) (MANILA BULLETIN)
A fuming Villar confronted Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Emmanuel Pacquiao over the draft resolution seeking to retain the leadership of Senate President Vicente Sotto III in the 18th Congress.
Pacquiao was approaching his colleagues one by one for their signatures when Villar confronted him.
“Ayusin niyo 'yong kapartido ninyo. Huwag niyo kong idadamay sa away nyo. Oh, bakit hindi kausapin ni Sotto 'yong mga kapartido niyo para matapos ang gulo niyo? Bakit ako isasali niyo sa away ninyo? (Try to talk it out with your partymate and don’t drag me into your quarrel. Why can’t Sotto talk to your partymate so everything will be settled? Why to drag me into your quarrel?)” Villar said.
Villar was apparently referring to Pimentel and Pacquiao's partymate in the ruling PDP-Laban, senator-elect Francis Tolentino.
The former presidential political adviser had been reported as having plans to oust Sotto from Senate presidency, amid the lobbying of incoming senators for their preferred Senate committees.
Responding to Villar, Pimentel said: “Hindi, kakausapin niya si Tol (Tolentino).” He then advised Pacquiao to talk to Tolentino.
Villar also berated Pacquiao for immediately ruling that the PDP-Laban neophyte senators will support Sotto's leadership in the next Congress.
“Kasi ikaw, dinala mo 'yong mga kapartido mo kay Sotto. Sabi mo, maggo-good time lang kayo. Tapos bigla niyong sinabi, na supporting sila kay Sotto (On the guise of going for ‘good time,’ you took your partymates to Sotto. Then, you declare they are supporting Sotto),” she told Pacquiao.
It was Pacquiao, the PDP-Laban campaign manager, who hosted recently a gathering of some incumbent and incoming senators from the ruling political party.
Before the confrontation, Villar had refused to sign the resolution being passed around by Pacquiao she sought assurance that her partymates – senators-elect Pia Cayetano and Imee Marcos – would also get their own committees.
Villar, Cayetano, and Marcos all run under the Nacionalista Party (NP) in the last elections.
“Bakit ako pipirma diyan? Kung ipahamak niyo ang aking kapartido? Ako nakapirma diyan. Hihintayin ko na maayos si Pia at si Imee (Why should I sign? What if you betray my partymates? I will wait until Pia and Imee are settled),” she said.
“Bakit ako pipirma diyan nang di naaayos ang kapartido ko (Why should I sign when my partymates are not yet settled)?” she added.
In an interview, Villar did not categorically confirm if she has plans for the Senate presidency although she said she is not opposed to Sotto’s leadership.
“They are seeing a ghost...Wala pa naman, eh. I will think about it kung nandiyan na,” she told reporters.
At the continuation of their session, Pacquiao manifested that 13 majority bloc senators have so far signed the draft resolution expressing support for Sotto’s leadership.
They are: Pacquiao, Pimentel, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, Nancy Binay, Juan Edgardo Angara, Joel Villanueva, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto.
Outgoing Senators Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, and Francis Escudero also affixed their signatures in the measure.
Sen. Richard Gordon, though he has yet to sign the resolution, had also expressed support for Sotto's leadership, Pacquiao said.
When pressed by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on the reason of Villar's refusal, Pacquiao said he respects latter's decision.
Sotto, meanwhile, thanked his colleagues for their support.
“Thank you very much for that manifestation. Thank you, thank you. I am indebted,” he said.