As Villar drops from race, Migz bares his Senate committee heads
Senator Cynthia A. Villar has backed out of the race for Senate president, leaving Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri the only contender for the highest post in the chamber.
“I am no longer interested,” Villar told reporters Wednesday, one day after Senator Ronald dela Rosa said she had the support of eight senators, most of them allied with outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I want a simple life,” Villar said, adding that she would continue focusing on her advocacies—agriculture and the environment.
Villar said she has already talked to Zubiri, who has been vocal about succeeding Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Senator Imee Marcos, older sister of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said the incoming chief executive would not meddle in the Senate race, and said she did not seek the post for herself.
Zubiri won reelection to a second term in May, under the UniTeam of President-elect Marcos and Vice President-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Senator Marcos said Zubiri was majority leader under three Senate presidents and knows the Senate by heart.
“He has been tried and tested,” she said.
Zubiri on Wednesday said his bloc would install Senator-elect Loren Legarda as the Senate president pro tempore—the second highest post in the chamber—and re-elected Senator Joel Villanueva as the next majority leader.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian will retain his chairmanship on the Committee on Basic Education. He will also head the committee on ways and means.
Senator Nancy Binay will continue to chair the tourism panel and she was named as the next chair of the committee on accounts, which is headed by outgoing Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara will retain chairmanship of the committee on finance.
Zubiri said Senator-elect Robin Padilla has been negotiating with them for the chairmanship of the committee on constitutional amendments.
“That’s what he wants. Let him prove his worth,” Zubiri said.
He added that the Blue Ribbon Committee has been offered to Senator Francis Tolentino, but he has yet to accept the post.
Zubiri said he wanted a supermajority in the Senate, saying a united chamber was a productive one.
He thanked Villar for providing the supermajority, but said this would not mean the Senate would be subservient to the demands of the executive.
“The supermajority I am talking about is not meant to railroad the proposals of Malacañang. The supermajority just aims to speed up our work on bills that are good for the country,” he said in Filipino.
