MANILA: Confident that a majority of the administration Team PNoy senatorial candidates would win, Senator Sergio Osmeña III revealed that Senator Franklin Drilon is the most qualified to replace Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in the 16th Congress.
“President Aquino already announced or floated the name of Senator Drilon and I think Drilon is well qualified to be the next Senate president. And Senator Drilon’s relationship with Senator Enrile is very good,” Osmeña said.
Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado at the Senate building, Osmeña added that he does not see any problem with Drilon becoming the next Senate president.
“Of course, there might be a dark horse who might have ambition but I don’t see anything at this time,” he said.
Osmeña said change in the Senate leadership “is already a given since two months ago.”
“We knew already that there will be changes in July when the new Congress comes about. We can practically be definite it will happen,” he said. Osmeña added the pro-LP senators have allied with the Nacionalista Party group led by Senator Manny Villar.
UNA senatorial candidates said it would be up to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to conduct an investigation on the Christmas cash gifts given by Enrile to senators last Christmas.
VACC accused Cayetano of violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The group said Cayetano had ignored its complaint regarding Enrile’s grant of millions of pesos as Christmas gifts to his fellow senators last December.
VACC said the complaint was filed on January 21 but Cayetano did not act on it even if it sent a follow-up letter to the senator on February 13.
Cayetano has vowed to attend to the group’s complaint as soon as Congress resumes session.
Meanwhile, Senator Francis Escudero called for reforms yesterday in the use of the P25bn Priority Assistance Development Fund (PDAF), the official name of the congressional pork barrel.
He made the call in the wake of the latest Commission on Audit report that nearly P200m in PDAF allocations of Enrile, Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, and Senator Ramon Revilla Jr ended up with a nonexistent private foundation.
Every senator receives P200m a year from PDAF, while each member of the House of Representatives gets P70m.
THE Philippine Star
