Palace hopes new senators will fulfill mandate

MALACAÑANG congratulated Sunday the 12 winning senatorial candidates for the 2013 midterm elections, as it hoped that they could perform well the mandate given to them by the people.

“Their mandate is a bit heavy, so let’s all wish them well,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte in an interview over Radyo ng Bayan.

Despite criticisms by some quarters due to failure to tally all the 304 certificates of canvass, the Commission on Elections (Comelec), sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, completed Saturday night the proclamation of all the winning senatorial bets.

The poll body made the proclamation in three batches for three consecutive days.

The winners include Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Aquilino Pimentel III, Antonio Trillanes IV, Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito Estrada, and Gregorio Honasan II.

When the 16th Congress opens in July, Valte said the Palace will push again for priority measures that were lined up in the previous Congress but were not enacted into law.

“We have remaining (measures) on the Ledac (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) list. There was the first batch and more (measures) were added up on the list. All of them haven’t yet passed in the two chambers,” she said.

One of those priority measures was on land use bill, she said. Honasan promised to pay attention to this.

Asked if the Palace would support the antidynasty bill in the upcoming Congress, Valte said it would be up to the legislators to come up with the law.

Like what President Benigno Aquino III has mentioned, she said the parameters should be clear on whatever proposals the lawmakers would make.

“So we really have to see - if any, we’ll have to see the proposed bill and the parameters that it proposes to set down before we can make a comment,” she added. (SDR/Sunnex)