Lacson being wooed by Senate majority

The majority bloc in the Senate is wooing opposition Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson to join its ranks.

Senate President Franklin Drilon told journalists yesterday that he would soon discuss with the members of his bloc the possibility of Lacson joining them.

He said he would also ask them about a possible committee chairmanship for the opposition senator, who ran and lost in the May presidential elections.

If Drilon’s group succeeds in recruiting Lacson, that would bring to 15 the number of members of the majority bloc and reduce the minority to eight members.

Earlier, Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier revealed that they are trying to recruit Lacson, who headed the Philippine National Police during the short-lived administration of disgraced President Joseph Estrada.

Another party training an eye on Lacson’s services is newly designated Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes, who said the senator would make a good adviser to the anti-criminality campaign.

Apparently, the majority began its recruitment efforts after Sen. Edgardo Angara’s statement in a radio interview early last week in which he indicated that he does not count the former PNP chief as part of the minority.

Angara said there are eight members of the minority who, he added, are not involved in the leadership fight in the Senate.

The eight that he referred to do not include Lacson. — with Christina Mendez