The seven “solid” senators who stood behind the leadership of ousted Senate president Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri is now mulling joining the Senate minority bloc.
Sen. Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay disclosed this in an interview on Radio DWIZ: “At the moment, pinag-iisipan pa din namin kung kami sasama sa minority (We are still thinking if we will join the minority). So that is still an option for us.”
The two-man Senate minority bloc is composed of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
The so-called “Solid 7” includes Zubiri, Binay, Senators Loren Legarda, Sherwin Gatchalian, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, and Joel Villanueva.
Legarda, Villanueva and Ejercito resigned as Senate president pro tempore, majority leader and deputy majority leader after Zubiri was ousted from his position.
The group was formed following Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s sudden succession as the Senate President on Monday, May 20 after 15 senators signed the resolution calling for a change in the Senate’s leadership.
Ejercito, in an interview on ANC’s Headstart, also confirmed the plan of the “Solid 7” to join the minority bloc.
“That’s one of the considerations because we’re not part of the majority anyway,” Ejercito said.
Ejercito said it was he, Binay and Villanueva who broached the idea of joining the minority bloc, and Pimentel was also keen on coalescing with the “Solid 7.”
“We’re used to be in the minority…we were in the minority with Sen. Nancy Binay,” he said.
But when asked if joining the minority bloc would mean they would be opposing the Marcos administration, Ejercito said no.
“Being in the minority doesn’t mean you are against the administration, we are just on the other side of the Senate leadership,” he pointed out.
But for now, the “Solid 7” bloc remains part of the new Senate majority, Escudero said during the Kapihan sa Senado forum.
"Malayang makakapag-manifest kahit anong oras basta may plenary session kami ang sinuman miyembro na umanib sa minority, pero sa ngayon bahagi sila ng mayorya (They can freely manifest their plans anytime as long as we have a plenary session, any member who wants to join the minority. But for now they are part of the majority),” Escudero said.
“Bahagi man sila ng mayorya o minorya, gaya ng sinabi ko sa talumpati ko matapos ako manumpa, tinuturing ko silang pare-parehong miyembro ng Senado (But whether they are part of the majority or minority, as I said in my speech, after I took my oath, I will treat all of them as fellow members of the Senate),” the newly-installed Senate chief said.