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By Efren L. Danao Senior, Reporter
The Senate elected on Monday Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile as the new
Senate president in a bloodless coup against the leadership of Sen.
Manuel Villar Jr.
The vote was 14-0 with six abstentions. Enrile,
who had been pictured as an administration ally, ascended to the top
Senate post with the help of oppositionist Senators Panfilo
Lacson, Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd, Loren Legarda and Jamby
Madrigal.
Villar resigned before the voting took place.
“I’ve been informed this afternoon [of
Monday] that I no longer have the support of the majority members. I
now, therefore, tender my resignation,” he said.
No reason was given for the loss of confidence,
but Villar’s resignation could lead to a reorganization of the
Senate. Until Villar’s ouster, the Senate was investigating
corruption allegations against former Agriculture Undersecretary
Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante, who is accused of diverting
government fertilizer funds to benefit President Gloria Arroyo’s
campaign in 2004.
Lacson nominated Enrile to be Senate president
after Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada
reopened the session. Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan seconded
the nomination.
Enrile was declared Senate president after
Honasan administered him the oath of office.
Lacson said that Malacañang, 2010 and committee
chairmanships were not at all considered in the change of Senate
leadership. Elections for the next Philippine president are
scheduled for 2010.
“Malacañang had no hand in the change of
leadership,” he said.
Palace reaction
Malacañang said that indeed it had nothing to
do with the change in leadership at the 23-strong Senate.
“We respect the independence of any action
taken by the Senate regarding its own organization. The Palace had
no involvement whatsoever in the Senate’s leadership change,”
presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio said in a statement.
The deputy presidential spokesman, Lorelei
Fajardo, described Villar’s resignation as “most admirable.”
She said Villar and Enrile “will undoubtedly continue to serve the
country and maintain the integrity and eminence of the Senate.”
Senate coup
The move against Villar started on Day One of
the Fourteenth Congress and he had successfully warded it off until
Monday.
Villar, who has been Senate president since July
2006, did not contest his ouster after verifying that he had lost
the majority in the chamber. He opened the session an hour late,
then read an 11-paragraph valedictory where he announced his
resignation and thanked all those who had helped his leadership.
“I am now released from the burdens of the
Senate presidency. I shall be happy now to devote more time as a
fiscalizer. I shall now have more time with our people in the
countryside and with my family,” Villar said, while offering his
support to Enrile.
Enrile vowed to raise the bar of independence of
the Senate and expressed his gratitude to his colleagues for
conferring on him an honor and recognition that he said could not
compare with previous ones that he had received.
He revealed that he was approached by a group of
senators in 2007 to head the Senate.
“I gave a condition that I thought was
impossible to achieve. I told them to present me with a resolution
signed by 13 senators and I will agree. Then, this morning, I
learned that the impossible had been achieved,” Enrile said.
He was to meet with the new majority, or those
who voted for him, last night to discuss a reorganization of some
key committees and the legislative agenda.
“I will hold the chairmanship of the finance
committee in concurrent capacity so that the passage of the 2009
budget will not be derailed,” Enrile said.
Voting
Sen. Francis Pangilinan resigned as majority
leader and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as chairman of the blue-ribbon
committee. They were among those who abstained. The others who
abstained were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Sen.
Benigno Aquino 3rd, Sen. Joker Arroyo and Sen. Pia Cayetano.
Enrile said he would talk with those who
abstained to see how they could work together under his leadership.
He would not say if Pangilinan would also be replaced as
ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council.
Those who voted for Enrile were Lacson, Legarda,
Madrigal, Roxas, Estrada, Honasan, Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon,
Francis Escudero, Richard Gordon, Lito Lapid, Ramon “Bong”
Revilla Jr. and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago was absent. Villar
had already left, and Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th is still under
detention.
Independent Senate
Lacson said they had considered Enrile as the
only one who could push for an independent Senate.
He maintained that the C-5 controversy where he
charged Villar with allocating P200 million twice for the same road
construction was a principal reason why a change in leadership was
realized. Ironically, Enrile, who replaced Villar, had cleared
Villar of any wrongdoing in the C-5 road extension project.
Cayetano believed that the presidential
elections in 2010 were the main reason of some individual senators
for the unseating of Villar.
“That is why they are always speaking of a
‘level playing field’ for 2010,” he said.
Among the senators with known presidential
ambitions are Villar, Lacson, Legarda, Roxas and Gordon.
Palace bid
Cayetano also believed that Villar’s ouster
would even strengthen Villar’s bid for the presidency in 2010
“because he will now have more time to go around the country.”
He dismissed suggestions that Villar had taken advantage of his post
as Senate president to campaign for 2010.
The change in Senate leadership also saw the
parting of Pimentel and the group of Lacson, Legarda, Roxas,
Madrigal and Biazon. Pimentel will remain with the minority by
abstaining in the election of Enrile.
“He [Pimentel] has reasons, which I could not
share with you. It’s better that he give you his reasons himself.
But I hate to see him on the other side of the aisle,” Lacson
said.
Erap statement
Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada rued
the decision of Villar to resign as Senate president.
In a brief statement, Estrada said, “We regret
to see [Villar] resign as head of the Senate because he has served
our country well as Senate president, especially in trying times in
the past such as at the height of the NBN-ZTE investigations.” NBN
is the scrapped $330-million National Broadband Network project
between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.
The former president congratulated Enrile.
“He is obviously a man of great experience and
in these tumultuous times in our political history, as we brace
ourselves for the worst effects of the world financial crisis, and
as we seek the truth on the many scandals of the incumbent
administration, a man of such experience as Senator Enrile is ideal
to lead our Senate today,” Estrada said.
-- With Angelo S. Samonte And Francis Earl A. Cueto
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