Villar unfazed by threats to term sharing with Drilon

Sen. Manny Villar remains unfazed by the claims of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago that he may have already lost his bid for the Senate presidency.

Villar expressed confidence yesterday that Senate President Franklin Drilon will abide by their term-sharing agreement in which Drilon would relinquish his seat to Villar in July next year.

"That would be next year and that is what Senator Drilon and I agreed with. There is no reason that there will be changes in the agreement even if there are reports that there will be changes in the Senate leadership. On my part, we have talked about that, and we are looking forward to that (term-sharing)," he said.

Villar noted the Senate is now busy prioritizing important measures, particularly the passage of the trillion-peso national budget for 2006.

Santiago earlier doused the ambitions of Villar along with another contender, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, in seeking the Senate presidency.

Santiago said both Villar and Roxas are caught in a deadlock in the fight for the Senate presidency because they have not pledged their solid support to President Arroyo.

Villar’s chances supposedly diminished after his wife, Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar, voted in favor of the impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo last September.

Santiago said Villar and Roxas are both aspiring for the presidency in 2010, which is probably one of the reasons why they are seeking the post of Senate president.

But Villar shrugged off Santiago’s insinuations, saying "for all we know, there (will) already be a parliamentary (form of government) by 2010. And there is no presidency that we would fight for."

Roxas still refuses to comment on the issue. — Christina Mendez