State of the United Opposition

Newly-installed Senate president Manuel Villar Jr. is managing quite expertly the balance of power at the Senate. And as the No. 3 highest elected official of the land, Villar brings to fore his management expertise to aid his leadership at the Senate. Composed of 23 so-called ‘Independent Republics,’ Villar’s stewardship of the Senate for the next few weeks is crucial with the May 2007 mid-term elections just around the corner.

Villar, president of his own Nacionalista Party (NP), is himself one of the re-electionist Senators. So far, there has been smooth transition of leadership from Drilon to Villar after he secured the majority votes last July 24. Villar’s election by his Senate colleagues finally carried out the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between him and erstwhile Senate president Franklin Drilon.

In turn, Villar relinquished to Drilon his previous posts as the chairman of the Senate committee on finance and public order. The fly in the ointment, so to speak, was when Opposition Sen. Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson raised at the Senate floor the issue of who among the Senators belong to the majority and who belong to the minority.

Naturally, this question pricked the ears of Senate minority leader Aquilino ‘Nene’ Pimentel Jr., especially after Sen. Rodolfo Biazon seconded Lacson’s parliamentary query at the floor. Traditionally, whoever loses in the election of the Senate presidency becomes the Senate minority leader. Since Pimentel is the incumbent Senate minority leader, there was no vacancy to speak of. Before the issue got out of hand that might turn to a heated debate, Villar suspended the session and got everyone concerned to talk about the matter more calmly and in congenial atmosphere.

At this point in time, the Senators could not afford to waste what little time they have left on matters that divide them. Fortunately though, Villar has so far succeeded in keeping the peace among the Senators.

Drilon himself could not say whether he belongs to the majority or to the minority group when he was the guest at the weekly Plaridel luncheon meeting at the Pantalan in Luneta last Monday. "I guess I’ll sit in the middle aisle," Drilon quipped and chuckled at his own reply.

Even his own Liberal Party (LP) where Drilon is the president, is at a loss as to where they stand now. The LP has yet to determine whether they are still with the Administration Coalition or not anymore because Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, who is the Party chairman of LP and other LP stalwarts in the Palace and in Congress as well as local elective officials, continue to align themselves with President Arroyo, while Drilon and his fellow LP leaders in the Senate identify themselves with the Opposition.

Villar got the numbers after he secured the support of at least four Senators identified with deposed President Joseph Estrada. The mother-and-son team of Senators Loi Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada made it clear that their support to Villar’s leadership is conditional. It ends if they think that support to Villar will benefit President Arroyo. The deposed President is the acknowledged chieftain of the United Opposition (UNO).

So really, the concern of Lacson over who consist the majority and the minority at the Senate is valid, although the Senators themselves decided to gloss this over for the sake of keeping the unity of the Senate as an institution. Such concern keeps the Senators behind each other, especially that Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his allies at the House have not given up yet on pushing Charter change to see the shift to a Parliamentary system of government that would result to the abolition of the Senate.

If President Arroyo delivered her SONA quite clearly, stating all her administration priorities, the Opposition leaders in Congress should come up quick with their respective positions to clarify the state of the United Opposition.

In the meantime, Drilon will be shepherding the proposed P46 billion supplemental budget that President Arroyo endorsed to Congress a week after she delivered her state of the nation address at the Batasang Pambansa. If it is any source of peace of mind for officials at Malacañang Palace, both Drilon and Villar were more or less supportive of the approval of a supplemental budget in lieu of passing the proposed 2006 General Appropriations Act.

The 2006 GAA is dead in the water with no less than the President herself formally leading its burial at the SONA when she asked for the immediate approval instead of the supplemental budget. The Chief Executive has made it clear she won’t allow the Senate version of the 2006 GAA to be cut by P50 billion or P80 billion.

As Drilon bluntly put it, approving the 2006 GAA at this stage, with just less than five months left of the year, would only be tantamount to giving President Arroyo ‘more discretionary’ funds at her disposal. Moreover, it is simply foolhardy to approve the 2006 GAA when the Palace must submit the proposed 2007 budget bill, 30 days after the President’s SONA, that is on Aug. 24. This is the political argument on that score.

From the economic point of view and for sustained business confidence, Villar believes it would be more prudent for Congress to just approve the 2006 supplemental budget rather than run the risk of increasing the fiscal deficit of the government which is set at P44.5 billion under the 2005 re-enacted budget.

Villar cited the ‘taming’ of the fiscal deficit is the ‘unintended consequence’ of the reenacted budget. The reenactment of the 2005 budget effectively controlled the runaway fiscal deficit in the past. "This is the reason why the peso has been strong and the stock market remains bullish despite these political noises in our country because the government have tamed the fiscal deficit," Villar pointed out.

Thus, Villar fears that changing his tack at this stage might dampen the bullishness of the Philippine economy. As things are turning out, the House of Representatives and the Palace are now at odds with each other. Rep. Joey Salceda (Lakas, Albay) met with Villar Tuesday to relay the sentiments of House leaders of their desire to press for the approval of the 2006 GAA.

Villar used to be the counterpart of Salceda who chairs the House committee on appropriations before the bicameral conference committee broke up on the 2006 budget bill deliberations. It will be recalled that sessions adjourned in May going nowhere in closing the gap between their differing versions of the GAA.

But I don’t think there would be such House-Palace friction since Salceda’s immediate predecessor and former House colleague, ex-Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya Jr., is the Budget and Management Secretary. Salceda happens to be a close economic adviser of Mrs. Arroyo and therefore, he is just a phone call away to check with her every now and then.

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