Rumors: Miriam says Villar sure to be SP?

I have been hearing news that Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has been giving hints that the up-for-grabs Senate President seat is already in the bag for former presidential aspirant Manny Villar.

She said that Villar started talking to fellow Senators as soon as he conceded in the presidential race due to falling only third in the vote-count, behind former President Erap Estrada and now President Benigno Aquino.

The two other Senators who are trying to claim that coveted Senate Presidency are Sen. Kiko Pangilinan and Sen. Frank Drilon, who both won their re-elective posts during the election period.

Drilon however, is backing away from the picture since he has a tarnished reputation of being a former Arroyo supporter, with evidence that he even 'declared his love and loyalty' to then-president-now-Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her term.



It is notable that both Drilon and Pangilinan run under President Aquino's Liberal Party during the campaign period. Sen. Pangilinan is now said to be courting his fellow senators to give him their pledges that they will choose him as the next Senate President, and I am certain he is using his ties with P. Aquino as leverage for persuasion.

Sen. Santiago said that Pangilinan is wasting his time because Villar has already secured at least 12, 13 if including Villar, votes which would comprise of the majority of the Senate, and is enough to propell him to the Senate Presidency.


Come to think of it, Villar is a good choice for the Senate President seat not only because he is the most qualified (he is the only presidential-aspirant that is running for the post), and also because he is the least evil among the three (to put traditional Filipino thinking into place). And since Executive, Legislative and Judiciary responsibilities are supposed to be independent of each other, and doesn't favor each other, it is actually essential that a non-Aquino ally be the head of the Legislative department of government.



Could you imagine if Drilon or Pangilinan won? Everything that President Aquino wants, he will get. It is a unfair advantage that would simply demoralize the essence of democracy and the check-and-balance of government officials.

Having Villar as the Senate President would allow this so-called new government of the Philippines to have some balance between the avid, die-hard, blind faith-ed Yellow supporters and the rest of the Filipinos.