MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Imee Marcos said Tuesday that it is “most unlikely and quite improper” for her brother, President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to endorse a candidate for the Senate presidency, citing the need to maintain the separation of powers between the three branches of government.
“It’s most unlikely and quite improper. As you’re well aware, there’s a separation of the three branches of government. We cannot interfere in the executive. The executive should not meddle with the judiciary and so on and so forth because that’s not right,” Imee, the older sister of the president-elect, told reporters.
Related Stories
While interference from the executive on the affairs of the legislative branch seems to be frowned upon, the upper chamber of Congress has in the past considered the chief executive in electing its next leader.
In 2016, senators chose Sen. Koko Pimentel, the lone party mate of President Rodrigo Duterte in the chamber, as they wanted to provide stability in the leadership of the Senate.
Granted that even if Marcos Jr. does not pick a preferred bet for Senate president, he can already count on his many allies in the chamber where he served from 2010 to 2016. As it stands, the leading contenders for the top Senate post are his allies: Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri and Sen. Cynthia Villar.
Then there are other Marcos Jr. allies reportedly eyeing the Senate presidency like Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and Sen.-elect Loren Legarda who were both part of the UniTeam ticket in the recently concluded elections.
While not explicitly allied with Marcos Jr., Sen.-elect Chiz Escudero, who is also supposedly seeking to be Senate President Tito Sotto’s successor, has maintained a cordial relationship with the president-elect, hosting him in his home province of Sorsogon even if he is a guest candidate on the ticket of his archrival, Vice President Leni Robredo.
But if the older Marcos were to be believed, no one among the contenders for the Senate presidency has the 13 votes needed to secure the coveted position. Imee is reportedly among the senators backing Villar, her fellow Nacionalista, for Senate president.
“We all have our own parties,” Imee said. “So you always support your party mate as a general rule.”
However it goes down and whoever goes up to the rostrum in July as the next Senate president, Imee says what is important for them is to secure a supermajority in the chamber.
“I think that at all costs, we need to have a supermajority. Our country faces, with the world, a very challenging future. We need to be together. We need a Senate UniTeam,” she said.