Drilon: Next Senate president will be very busy

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Franklin Drilon expects the next Senate president to have his hands full in bringing back the prestige of the Senate, which was lost because of the various controversies that came out just before the end of the 15th Congress.

The Commission on Audit (COA) report on the use of the priority development assistance funds (PDAF) of some senators that came out earlier this week was only the latest of the problems hounding the Senate.

Drilon said it was unfortunate that what was highlighted in the reports were only the PDAFs of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. because it most likely covered other senators too.

But even with just the three being mentioned, it was clear that the public had a very negative perception on the Senate.

“It’s sad, but it is already accepted that the Senate as an institution is affected by all of this,” Drilon said.

The COA report indicated that almost P200 million of the PDAF of Enrile, Estrada, Revilla and Buhay party-list Rep. Rene Velarde went to agricultural and livelihood programs of the Department of Agriculture, through the ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp. and eventually to the Pangkabuhayan Foundation Inc. (PFI).

According to the COA report, PFI forged documents and signatures for the liquidation of the funds.

Before the issue of the PDAF, the Senate was also embroiled in a controversy involving the distribution and use of its funds, specifically the savings that were realigned to miscellaneous and other operating expenditures (MOOE).

Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano assailed Enrile, who controls the use of the Senate’s funds as head of the institution, for his inequitable distribution of the additional MOOE.

The three senators, who are all critics of Enrile, received a significantly smaller amount in contrast to the rest of the senators.

The controversy led to calls from the public about the need for the Senate to be transparent in its use of taxpayers’ money and renewed calls from within to replace Enrile as Senate President.

Drilon, who previously described the current Senate as very unmanageable, lamented that damage has already been done on the image of the institution, which he said would be difficult to repair.

Trillanes has said that Drilon is likely to be the next Senate president if ever Enrile is ousted or when the 16th Congress elects its leaders this July.

During the ongoing campaign for the senatorial election this May, Drilon, who serves as campaign manager of the administration’s Team PNoy, has also been introduced repeatedly as the next Senate president.

Drilon laughed this off and said that it is giving him more trouble than anything else.

Team PNoy’s rival coalition, the United Nationalist Alliance of Enrile, Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada, has accused the administration of wanting to control the Senate through a 12-0 win this May, with Drilon at the helm.