No more check and balance in Senate, if...

MANILA, Philippines - Checks and balances in the Aquino government will be a thing of the past if Sen. Franklin Drilon becomes Senate president, Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay said yesterday.

“If Senator Drilon will become the new Senate president, this will be a kiss of death for check and balance in the Senate,” Magsaysay said following reports that Drilon was being touted as a possible replacement for incumbent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile for the 16th Congress.

Magsaysay is running for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), one of whose leaders is Enrile.

“Drilon has proven time and again his bias in favor of the administration, unabashedly lawyering for the prosecution team during the Corona trial, and blindly kowtowing to administration policies, whether they are right or not. Have we ever heard a peep from him when crises are not handled well by the President? How can he be an effective leader of the Senate?” she said.

The lawmaker said the Senate president should not be party driven. “Somebody who will not be dictated by the administration and will have his own mind in dealing with issues.”

Drilon dared to speak up on Lanto appointment

Meanwhile, UNA secretary-general and campaign manager Toby Tiangco yesterday challenged Drilon to break his silence on his supposed role in the appointment of Macabangkit Lanto to the Commission on Elections.

“What Drilon and the Liberal Party did was a disservice to the President. It put the President on the spot, and Drilon cannot just play the role of Pilate when in fact he was the principal backer of Lanto,” Tiangco said.

He said Drilon’s refusal to explain his role in hand picking Lanto to the Comelec post only thickens the plot and the possible web of conspiracies to choreograph the 2013 election. – With Jose Rodel Clapano