SENATE President Francis Escudero yesterday expressed confidence senators will approve the priority measures of the Marcos administration and the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) despite a split in the majority coalition of the upper chamber.
Escudero said he sees no reason why senators belonging to the “Solid 7” bloc would vote against the measures since they were among those who have been pushing for their approval before last week’s leadership change.
Zubiri resigned as Senate President last week after learning that 14 senators were plotting to oust him. With his resignation, six of his allies also stepped down from their posts and joined him in forming the Solid 7 bloc.
The Solid 7 is comprised of Senators Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda and Sherwin Gatchalian.
Zubiri has said that they are studying the possibility of joining the minority bloc, which is currently composed of Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, and Risa Hontveros.
The Cayetano siblings — Senators Alan Peter and Pia — are also independent members of the chamber.
Escudero said the Solid 7 bloc has the right to join the minority group, but said this should be a reason for them not to support the passage of the priority bills.
Besides, he added, the Solid 7 senators were among those who were rallying for the approval of the proposed pieces of legislation.
It can be recalled that when Zubiri was still the Senate leader, he repeatedly assured President Marcos Jr. that the Senate “will see” the passage of at least 20 priority bills listed under the Common Legislative Agenda of the LEDAC before the end of the 2nd Regular Session of the 19th Congress.
“Pag nag-minority ba sila, magbabago ang isip nila at ayaw na nila bigla yung gusto nila ngayon? Sa minorya ba ay isusulong pa nila ang RBH 6 (Resolution of Both Houses) hearings? Eh di magkakabotohan siguro kami doon. Tutol kami sa PI, tutol din sila sa PI. So, ano ang padedebatehan namin doon? Sinusulong nila ang mga priority measures na in-endorse ng LEDAC, yun din naman ang gagawin namin at sisikapin namin. So, wala akong nakikitang problema pagdating sa bagay na iyon (If they join the minority, will that change their minds? Will they still push for RBH 6 hearings? If that’s the case, then we will have to vote for it. We are against PI, and so are they. So, what is there for us to debate on? They are pushing for the passage of measures listed in the LEDAC, that’s also what we want. So, I don’t see any problem [if the Solid 7 joins the minority]),” Escudero said.
“Wala akong nakikitang rason at dahilan para magbago bigla iyon dahil nagbago lamang ang liderato (I don’t see any reason or logic that will suddenly change their minds just because there is a new Senate leadership),” he added.
Escudero said he will ask the House leadership to provide the Senate with a list of its priority measures so that the Senate will include them in its legislative agenda.
He said he will also ask majority leader Francis Tolentino come up with a list of priority measures of their colleagues in the upper chamber based on the LEDAC and their individual priorities.
Escudero assured the public that he will not influence senators to vote for or against any proposed measure, saying that the decision of the majority will always prevail.
Likewise, Escudero said the Senate will come up with its version of the amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law, even as he said that it is unlikely that the National Food Authority (NFA) will get back its power to import rice, saying it is the growing consensus among senators to to give such power to the Department of Agriculture.
He said lawmakers should learn from the past since NFA was involved in so much irregularities when it came to purchasing of rice.
He said Sen. Cynthia Villar told Marcos that the RTL will be passed by the Senate after the State-of-the-Nation Address in July.
LEADERSHIP CHANGE
In an interview with dzBB radio, Escudero shot down insinuations that Zubiri’s ouster as Senate President was because of the People’s Initiative (PI), Charter change, and investigation into the PDEA Leaks.
He likewise doused cold water on speculations that House Speaker Martin Romualdez played a role in the move.
Escudero said the purported reasons for the leadership change are being floated by Zubiri and his allies, not the senators who backed his removal, who he noted have remained mum on the issue.
“Hindi para sa akin o sa amin na patulan ang kung anumang tanong na mayroon sila sa isipan nila. Sino ba ang nagbibigay ng iba’t-ibang rason nitong mga nakaraang araw kung bakit? Hindi naman galing sa nagbigay ng unang suporta sa pagpapalit ng liderato kung hindi galing sa kanila
(It is nor for me or for us to answer whatever questions they have in their minds. Who have been giving different reasons the past days why there was a change in leadership? It did not come from those who supported the ouster move, but it came from them),” Escudero told radio dzBB.
Zubiri and his allies have been saying that the leadership change was due to the differences in the senators’ stand on Charter change, the creation of the sub-committee of Constitutional Amendments of Resolution and its continued hearings on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, the Committee on Public Order hearings on the “PDEA Leaks”, and the latest, the objection of Zubiri to allow Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. to virtually attend plenary sessions due to a foot injury.
Escudero said Chacha could not have been one of the reasons since his opposition to Chacha is unchanged, and that many senators who have signed the resolution to oust Zubiri also attended the RBH 6 hearings.
“So, it’s not Chacha,” he said.
He said it is not even the PDEA Leaks hearings since if those in favor of Zubiri’s ouster were against the committee hearings, they would have replaced Sen. Ronald dela Rosa as panel chairman, and not Zubiri.
He also said that the ouster move was not due to the influence of Romualdez, who is supposedly getting back at Zubiri for rejecting the PI.
“Sabi nila galaw daw ito ng Speaker. Eh isa sa matinding hindi kasundo ng Speaker ay si Senator (Imee) Marcos. Eh bakit siya bumoto at sumama? Bawat rasong binibigay eh ang sagot ay kung sino lamang naman ang bumoto o sumoporta, eh pero wala sa mga sinabing rason na nanggaling sa iisa sa amin (They are saying that it was a move by the Speaker (Martin Romualdez), but as we all know one of the senators who is at odds with the Speaker is [his cousin] Sen. Imee Marcos. So why then did she vote in favor of the ouster move? Each reason being offered all boils down to who voted or supported [the change in leadership] but there is not one reason that came from us [who supported the ouster move]),” Escudero said.
Also, he said Villanueva supported the move to allow Revilla to virtuall y attend the sessions, but opted to stand by Zubiri’s side.
“Iisa lang palagi ang totoo at indibiduwal yan sa kada miyembro (There is always one truth to it and that remains on an individual’s reasons),” he added.
