MAJORITY of senators have reportedly signed a resolution to install Senator Vicente Sotto III as the new Senate President, replacing Senator Aquilino Pimentel III.
But Pimentel, who will seek a reelection next year, downplayed reports that he will be kicked out by his colleagues on Monday.
“It is not true that there will be changes in the Senate leadership come Monday [May 21]. No such thing,” said Pimentel, president of the ruling PDP-Laban party and a key ally of President Rodrigo Duterte in the Senate.
He, however, acknowledged that he will soon have to step down as Senate President when he files his certificate of candidacy in October.
Pimentel said there is no need to conduct a loyalty check, noting that politicians “should not be too attached to the position.”
“I am very willing to be replaced by someone whose term goes beyond June 30, 2019 so that we will still have a Senate president after that date. Senator Sotto complies with that requirement,” he said.
A draft copy of the unnumbered Senate resolution, however, has been released by various television networks Thursday evening.
“By a majority vote of all the senators, Senator Vicente C. Sotto III is hereby elected as the new Senate president to discharge the duties and powers granted to him by the rules of the Senate,” read the draft resolution.
The senators who have reportedly signed the resolution are Cynthia Villar, Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Joseph Victor Estrada, Gregorio Honasan II, Francis Escudero, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Manny Pacquiao, Ralph Recto, Joel Villanueva, Loren Legarda, and Juan Miguel Zubiri.