Senate picks Enrile with a vote of 17-3

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile reassumed the post of Senate president after getting the votes of the majority or 17 of his colleagues yesterday.

The senators elected Enrile Senate president for the second time, edging out rivals Francis Pangilinan of the Liberal Party and Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party, who had earlier backed out of the race.

Enrile belongs to the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino of former President Joseph Estrada.

Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada also of the PMP was elected Senate president pro-tempore, Sen. Vicente Sotto III of the Nationalist People’s Coalition was named majority leader and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano also of NP emerged as the minority leader.

Villar and Pangilinan had backed out of the race for the Senate presidency after both failed to get a majority of 13 votes.

The distribution of the Senate committee chairmanships was not discussed in yesterday’s session but Enrile later revealed that the Senate committees on education, science and technology would go to Sen. Edgardo Angara; finance to Sen. Franklin Drilon and banks to Sen. Sergio Osmeña.

Ralph Recto would get the ways and means committee; Francis Escudero, justice; Gregorio Honasan, defense “in the meantime.” Sen. Francis Pangilinan has yet to accept an offer to chair the Blue Ribbon committee.

Sen. Loren Legarda said she would chair the Senate committee on climate change, but expressed interest in the committee on energy, which is also being eyed by neophyte Sen. Teofisto Guingona III.

Another neophyte, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., is reportedly getting the committee on local governments.

“It seemed that it was the Pwersa ng Masa which won the elections,” said Sen. Joker Arroyo. President Aquino’s LP only has four members in the Senate.

Arroyo made a surprise move when he nominated Alan Peter Cayetano to the top Senate post.

“I am nominating out of necessity, out of need and because we must entail a healthy Senate, a Senate not beholden to anyone, a Senate that is free to act only to its member and not because of certain groups,” Sen. Arroyo said in explaining his nomination of Cayetano.

In nominating Cayetano, Arroyo said he found it “unfortunate” that the new majority senators would make “a configuration that they can create a minority within the majority without saying so.”

“We need a minority here in the Senate otherwise, the minority is a company union,” he said.

Arroyo recalled that during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino, mother of President Aquino, the 22 senators who comprised the majority were members of the president’s party, and only two – Enrile and Estrada – were with the minority.

He said it’s the failure of the LP and not Mr. Aquino that his party does not control the Senate.

“It’s the failure of the Liberal Party. You can imagine in the House, (Speaker Feliciano) Belmonte started with about practically 20 percent of the leadership but little by little he was able to get the majority,” he said.

“In the Senate, the Liberals were not able to get a majority. In basketball, they have to get an import and that is Johnny (Enrile),” Arroyo said.

The senators who voted for Enrile were Legarda, Estrada, Sotto, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Drilon, Pangilinan, Guingona, Recto, Escudero, Osmeña, Villar, Marcos, Angara, Honasan, Lito Lapid, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla and Cayetano.

Enrile voted for Cayetano, and so did senators Pia Cayetano and Arroyo.  

It is by tradition that the senator who lost the Senate presidency race automatically becomes the minority leader.

Three senators – Miriam Santiago, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Panfilo Lacson – were not present. 

Santiago was “on sick leave” while Lacson is still in hiding. Trillanes was unable to get a court clearance to attend yesterday’s session.

Congratulatory notes

Pangilinan declined to be interviewed after the voting but issued a statement congratulating Enrile.

Villar evaded the media, saying in jest that he was a member of the “committee of silence.”

“We congratulate Sen. Enrile for his election as our new Senate president. For the sake of unity and the cause of reforms and genuine change, I extend the hand of cooperation and support to him,” Pangilinan said in his statement.

“I am hopeful that the unity achieved will redound to meaningful legislation for our people,” Pangilinan said.

“I am very happy and overwhelmed because both of them, the Senate President and the Senate Pro-tempore, are PMP (members). I am very happy,” said former President Estrada who was at the oath taking of his son Jinggoy.

Also spotted at the gallery witnessing the opening of the 15th Senate were United States Ambassador Harry Thomas, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, former senator Jovito Salonga, LP chairman-emeritus and some foreign dignitaries.

United Senate

Enrile promised to unite the Senate in his acceptance speech.

“I have never expected nor had I anticipated that you will accord me such an honor and I am deeply grateful to all of you,” the Senate president said.

Enrile added that they have “set aside the partisan political divide that separates us to arrive at a consensus to elect the head of this house.” 

“This noble act is not my triumph. It is yours. It portrays your patriotism as responsible leaders of the country and your devotion to the interest and welfare of our country and people,” Enrile said.

“You and I will uphold the independence and integrity of this Senate, without abandoning our duty to cooperate with the other departments of the government to achieve what is good for our people,” Enrile added.

Sotto, for his part, expressed optimism that the re-election of Enrile would make the Senate more independent and productive.

“It was a very promising lineup as far as new Senate leaders are concerned,” Sotto said referring to the new Senate leaders.

Cayetano vowed to serve as fiscalizer and said the result of the elections reflected an opposition victory.

“It will just be a very different minority. Sen. Villar may have lost the elections, the same with President Estrada. But (the elections were) overwhelmingly, the win of the opposition,” Cayetano said.

Meanwhile, Marie Madamba-Nuñez, Oxfam Climate Campaigner, lauded Enrile’s reelection as Senate president.

“Senate President Enrile has given his commitment to push through with issues surrounding climate change financing in the country,” Nuñez told The STAR in Surigao del Sur. With Cecille Suerte Felipe