Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said Sunday he bears no grudges against his fellow senators for his impening replacement as head of the chamber.
“No issue at all. Change will happen with my happy blessings. Change is coming soon,” said Pimentel, who will seek reelection in the mid-term elections in May 2019.
Earlier reports said 14 senators signed a resolution supporting Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III as the next Senate president.
Pimentel had earlier said he would be very willing to step down as the leader of the Senate so he can prepare for his reelection bid and the senatorial slate of PDP-Laban, of which he is the president.
Members of the Senate majority bloc were expected to hold a caucus Monday to discuss the leadership change.
Pimentel said he would gladly accept any committee that may be assigned to him by the majority or the new Senate president.
“I have missed committee work the past year and nine months,” he said.
Both Senators JV Ejercito and Manny Pacquiao said none of the senators were dissatisfied with Pimentel’s leadership.
Pacquiao said Pimentel needs to focus on the election campaign since he is a candidate in the next elections.
Ejercito dismissed talk that Pimentel would be removed in a coup, describing the choice of a new president “a reorganization.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson agreed, saying there was already an agreement that once Pimentel steps down, he would be given a committee chairmanship of his choice.
“Normally, if there’s a coup d’état, the SP [Senate President] becomes minority leader. No such thing here,” he said.