THE fight for the Senate presidency in the coming 17th Congress would likely be a three-way contest among two incumbent senators and a returning senator.
The highest position in the Senate will be a toss-up among Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan president Aquilino Pimentel III, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and former Senator Panfilo Lacson.
In a text message, Pimentel said he was open to leading the Senate but that he was not anxious about it.
“If called to serve in that capacity, it’s my duty as PDP-Laban president to push for the governance agenda not only of my party but also of my president,” Pimentel said.
“But ultimately, that will depend on the collective will of my colleagues in the Senate.”
Pimentel on Thursday also said they were now receiving feelers from those wanting to join the PDP-Laban after Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte clinched the presidency in the May 9 elections.
He described their number as “too many” that he could not keep track of all of them.
Pimentel, whose term ends in 2019, ran as an independent candidate in the last senatorial race after he severed ties with the United Nationalist Alliance when Vice President Jejomar Binay opted to include incoming Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri in its senatorial slate.
The son and namesake of former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel II had accused Zubiri of cheating him in the 2010 elections and depriving him of his seat in the Senate.
Lacson also served as director of the Philippine National Police and was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III as presidential assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery in the aftermath of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” that ravaged eastern Visayas.
Lacson said he was not keen on leading the Senate.
“Count me out. I’m not interested,” said Lacson, an independent candidate who staged a comeback in the Senate under the wing of the ruling Liberal Party.
“It’s a compromised and a compromising position that I won’t fit in.”
Duterte had offered Cayetano the post of secretary of either the Department of Foreign Affairs or the Department of Justice, but he may assume the position only after a year after he ran for vice president in the recent elections.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said he was quite sure the next Senate president would be either Pimentel or Cayetano.
“I don’t know about the LP but in terms of numbers they still have around six or 7, and as such would play a role in the Senate leadership race,” he said.
Senator Vicente Sotto III refused to comment on the issue.
“We are still weighing our options,” he said.