THERE will be no change in the leadership of the Senate when the third regular session of the 18th Congress opens today, Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said yesterday as he discredited a supposed attempt to oust Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Zubiri said the move to replace Sotto did not materialize due to lack of supporting senators.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Saturday said that some members of the majority bloc were routing a resolution seeking to remove Sotto as Senate president following his announcement that he is seeking the vice presidency in next year’s national elections, with Lacson as his presidential candidate.
Lacson said the information came from Sotto, who learned about it from a staff member of a senator who received a copy of the resolution.
Sotto’s ouster is supposedly to be carried out when sessions resume this morning so a new Senate president will preside when President Duterte delivers his last state of the nation address (SONA) at the Batasan Pambansa complex this afternoon.
A head count of those who supposedly backed the resolution did not reach 13, which is the required number to unseat the Senate President.
Senate Rules require a majority vote plus one count when ousting an official of the Senate.
There are 24 senators, and the majority plus one requirement is 13.
Reacting to the supposed ouster plan, Sotto said: “I serve at the pleasure of my colleagues.
I can be replaced anytime (by) a majority of 13 wishes.”
Zubiri said Sotto still enjoys the support of the majority of the senators, among them himself, Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, Sherwin Gatchalian, Juan Edgardo Angara, and Nancy Binay. He added that Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Richard Gordon are also “solidly behind” Sotto’s leadership.
Zubiri said he has asked members of the “seatmates” group in the Senate who all said they neither received any resolution nor were approached by a senator proposing the replacement of Sotto.
“Ang usapin nitong pagpalit ng liderato medyo kasama ‘yan sa usaping political dahil nag-declare na sila ni Sen. Ping na tatakbo. Alam mo naman marami akong kasamahang senador na gustong maging president, vice president kaya siguro nagkaroon ng friction or alitan in terms of the position (Talks of a change in leadership is political because he and Sen. Ping [Lacson] have [already] declared that they will seek higher office next year. As we all know, there are a number of our colleagues who also want to be president or vice president that’s why maybe there was friction or conflict in terms of position),” Zubiri said.
He added: “But as far as I can see there will be no leadership change. Our jobs will continue especially now that there are a lot of important bills that need to be passed.
That’s why I am asking my colleagues to cease from creating trouble because once we change leadership there will be chaos. Political bickering in the Senate is the least thing we need right now.”
The House of Representatives will prioritize the approval of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2022 or the proposed national budget before the October deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacies (COCs) for next year’s national elections.
“We will work hard to pass the 2022 national budget before the deadline of the filing of COCs. We will take advantage of the technology. In fact, the Zoom has allowed us to have an engagement that is actually much more than what has been afforded by the actual presence of each and every member of the House,” said majority leader Martin Romualdez.
Romualdez is anticipating that most funding needed in the sustained campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic will be included in the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget which Malacañang is set to submit to the House.
“With the expiration of Bayanihan 2, I am anticipating that most of the concerns in our defeat COVID-19 campaign will be included in the 2022 national budget that we are about to receive after the final SONA of President Duterte,” he said, pointing out that the House has been working for the enactment of economic reforms and effective pandemic response measures such as the passage of the P401-billion Bayanihan to Arise as One Act or Bayanihan 3.
Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco said he expects the President to ask Congress to pass additional legislative measures “within the remaining time that we have.”
Right now, Romualdez said the House will work on the approval of five bills earlier identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), including the proposed Philippine Virology Institute Act, Center for Disease Control Act, Amendments to the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016, Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act, and National Housing Development Act.
Romualdez said other related anti-COVID bills pending in various committees that the House of Representatives will pursue are the Bisekleta para sa Kinabukasan Act, Online Registration of Voters, Accelerating Public Sector Investments in Local Infrastructure or Local Build, Build, Build Program, and the amendments to the Government Procurement Act.
He said the House will try to approve on third and final reading the following measures: House Bill (HB) No. 9459, or an Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens;HB 9147, or an “Act Regulating the Production, Importation, Sale, Distribution, Provision, Use, Recovery, Collection, Recycling, and Disposal of Single-Use Plastic Products;” and HB 9560, or an “Act Providing for the Modernization of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities, Establishing for this Purpose the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and Appropriating Funds Therefor.” — With Wendell Vigilia
