Sen. Ramon Revilla, Jr. said he is hoping the “handshake” between Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Speaker Martin Romualdez during the 100th year birthday celebration of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile would put an end to their “word war.”
The senators and congressmen went to Malacañang this Wednesday, Feb. 14, to attend the centennial anniversary of Enrile, who also served as the 21st Senate President from 2008-2013.
Revilla said President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. was also there during the handshake, but he was not near the two Congress leaders. “I just hope the handshake was sincere,” he said.
After the handshake, Revilla said he told Zubiri and Romualdez: “O, tama na, ceasefire na! (OK, that’s enough, let’s have a ceasefire),” referring to the heated exchange of words between the two over their opposing views on the issue of constitutional amendment.
Revilla said he received this reply: “Oo. OK naman. Nagkamayan na kami (Yes, we’re OK. We shook hands already).”
“I hope it’s a good start. We cannot stop this all of a sudden. We also cannot stop those who want to talk,” he added.
Revilla said he felt caught in the middle between the two Congress leaders because he is a partymate of Romualdez with the Lakas-CMD and a colleague to Zubiri at the Senate. He appealed for cooler heads to prevail among his fellow lawmakers moving forward.
“We should pass what should be passed,” Revilla said. When asked what the President told them, Revilla said he merely asked for their support.
“So, let’s hope for the best na maayos na ‘to dahil ang naaapektuhan hindi naman Senado o Kongreso, taumbayan (that the issues are resolved because who gets affected is neither the Senate, nor the House, but the people),” the senator said.
Watch his interview below [insert clip]