Drilon doesn’t expect reward for Team Pnoy’s 9-3 victory
MANILA – Senator Franklin Drilon, who helped the Team PNoy coalition attain its nine-three victory in the senatorial race, said he does not expect a reward for his hard work during the national campaign.
Drilon was the campaign manager of Team PNoy–a coalition of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and the Nacionalista Party (NP).
“The leadership in the Senate will be decided upon by the majority of the senators. There is no reward being talked about there,” Drilon said in a television interview Monday.
Over the weekend, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago Santiago said Drilon might be expecting the Senate leadership as his “reward” for leading the national campaign of Team PNoy.
Santiago added that Drilon will likely be competing against Team PNoy’s reelected Senator Alan Peter Cayetano for the post when the 16th Congress convenes in July.
“That (Senate presidency) is not up to us (Cayetano). It’s the other senators who will decide that,” Drilon said.
In the present 15th Congress, it is Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who holds the leadership post. His son, Cagayan Representative Jack Enrile, ran under the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and failed to make it to the so-called “Magic 12.”
Re-elected Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who had a publicized feud with Senate President Enrile, said NP members will hold a meeting to decide who their bet for the post will be.
Cayetano is a member of the NP, as well as senatorelect Cynthia Villar, former representative of Las Piñas City and wife of outgoing Senator Manny Villar.
“The NP senators will be meeting soon to discuss that, but, personally, Senator Drilon would be the ideal candidate for the Senate president,” Trillanes said in a text message.
For LP member and presidential cousin Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, a change in leadership is “expected” because of the new set of senators coming in.
“It is a part of the electoral process so it is likely,” he said in an earlier interview.
Aquino, who ranked seventh in the official election results, said his relation to President Benigno Aquino III would not prevent him from opposing what needs to be opposed.
“The track record of the Aquinos shows that there are times when we are disputing each other. PNoy [President Aquino] didn’t ask us for any bill. He just told us to work hard and do your best,” he said.