By Mario Casayuran
With the start of the 18th Congress less than two weeks away, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III is expected to retain his current post hands down.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III
(CZAR DANCEL / MANILA BULLETIN)
‘’Walang duda yan. Pero wala naman tayong nakikitang disagreement. Maski nga minority mas gusto si SP (Senate President) Tito (Sotto) pa rin ang maging SP,’’ Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said yesterday. (No doubt about it. There is no disagreement among the senators. Even the minority bloc likes Sotto.)
Lacson said the Senate majority and minority blocs worked harmoniously in the last (17th) Congress.
‘’Under the leadership of SP Sotto, mas maganda ang harmony, ang working relationship ng majority and minority, kasi consensus builder si SP. Sa kanya, ayaw niya pinupwersa ang minority even during caucuses; talagang we hear them out kung ano ang mga concerns at pinagbibigyan namin kung kayang pagbigyan. Pero kung talagang parang obstructionist na ang dating hindi na namin pagbibigyan,’’ he explained. (There was a harmonious relationship between the majority and minority blocs because Sotto is a consensus builder. Sotto did not resort to twisting the arms of the minority. We heard them out and gave way when there is a need for it. If they proved to be obstructionists, we did not give it.)
In a talk with Senate reporters, Lacson said that the independence of the Senate would not be affected by the presence of very close allies – Senators Christopher Lawrence ‘’Bong’’ Go, Ronald dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino.
The three, Lacson said, had assured the majority that they would not blindly follow the dictates of President Duterte.
Lacson also said that the chairmanships of the various Senate committees would be voted on when it meets on July 22, a day after the new set of Senate officials are elected at the opening of the 18th Congress.
On the decision of President Duterte to split the tenure of the House Speaker between former Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, Lacson said the constitutional separation of powers among the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary is clear.
He conceded that it is a reality that the President has a hand in the selection of a Speaker.
While Cayetano’s former links with the Senate has its advantages, Lacson said this does not change the reality that the Senate will be strict on the issue of pork barrel.
Passage of the 2019 national budget was delayed by several months because the Lower House delayed the submission of its budget version as a result of its insertion of about P90 billion pork barrel.
Of the P90 billion, more than P20 billion was an insertion for senators.