Escudero: Villar still unsure of Senate presidency

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. does not yet have the numbers to reclaim the Senate presidency, according to Sen. Francis Escudero.

Speaking over radio dwIZ, Escudero said it is still “anybody’s ballgame” as far as the top Senate post is concerned. 

“The declared candidates are Senators (Franklin) Drilon, (Francis) Pangilinan and Villar,” he said in Filipino.

Escudero said he had told president-elect Benigno Aquino III that it would be better if the top Senate post would go to a member of the Liberal Party.

“That way Aquino is assured of full support for his legislative agenda for the next six years,” he said in Filipino.

Escudero said he has not seen the alleged resolution that, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, was being circulated among senators to support Villar’s bid for the top Senate post.

He had discussed with Drilon and Pangilinan the need for the LP to agree on fielding one candidate, he added.

He is playing an “independent role” in the Senate, along with Senators Sergio Osmeña III, Gregorio Honasan and Panfilo Lacson, who remains a fugitive from justice.

Under the rules, a senator seeking the Senate presidency needs a majority vote of 13 senators.

In another interview, Santiago said she believed Villar has the numbers to reclaim the Senate presidency and rejected suggestions that outgoing Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile should become a compromise Senate president in the 15th Congress.

“I don’t think that Sen. Villar will compromise with anybody. I think that his attitude will remain as it always has been – either you want me or you don’t want me, and he doesn’t like to enter into negotiations because he’s not comfortable with these kinds of political maneuvering.”

Santiago said Villar is a person with “a corporate type of mentality.”

“If he has a vision, he wants to enlist everybody or he’ll just get out of the way and let somebody else proceed,” she said.

Santiago said the fight for the top Senate post has become a “propaganda war” on all fronts.

“If everybody has the numbers, how can that be possible since there are only 23 senators, in fact less than 23… So it must be obvious to everybody that all the sides are trying to wage a propaganda battle.

“I don’t think that’s how the presidency of the Senate should be decided.”

Santiago said she believes Villar already has the needed 13 votes, although he has been silent about it.

Santiago said she is skeptical that some of her peers have the numbers to take the Senate presidency. 

“I am immediately skeptical because I saw the signatures of some of these people in the same draft resolution that I signed,” she said, “unless they’re saying that these people whose signatures appear on the same resolution that I signed are going to turn traitor or will betray Sen. Villar.”

She “owes” Villar some gratitude “for what he did for us” in the past election, Santiago said.

Escudero: I have no grudge against Roxas

Escudero has no grudge against Sen. Manuel Roxas II, Aquino’s defeated vice-presidential running mate, and only learned only of the alleged “misunderstanding” between him and Roxas through the media.

“No problem with me, (I) never fought with him to begin with,” he said.

“Elections are over and we should now work together so that we can move forward in nation-building.”

Escudero said he is keeping his hands off the issue of giving vice president-elect Jejomar Binay the post of interior and local government secretary.

“Since the start, I do not want to meddle in the (appointments to the) Cabinet,” he said. 

Escudero said Aquino should be given the discretion over who should be a member of his Cabinet.

“We should not fight over politics, and on how we agreed or disagreed over the last elections,” he said.

Escudero said he has not mentioned to Aquino his preferences on committee chairmanships.

“You cannot underestimate the chairmanships in committees, whether it be the finance, ways and means, energy or education or agriculture,” he said. 

“Those are all important committees,” and challenging, Escudero said.