Villar: I don’t want to be Senate president but agri committee head

Senator-elect Cynthia Villar (right) and Talisay City Mayor and Cebu 1st District Representative-elect Eduardo Gullas (left) wait for the start of the oathtaking ceremony of Alayon winners at Carcar City Hall on Thursday, June 6. | Futch Anthony Inso

CARCAR CITY, Philippines — Reelected Senator Cynthia Villar reiterates that she is not interested in becoming the next Senate president in the incoming 18th Congress.

“Sila lang naman yung nagsasabi na gusto kong mag-Senate president kasi nag-number one ako. They equate yung being number one na dapat mag-Senate president ka. I don’t think so,” Villar said.

(They were the only ones who said that I wanted to be Senate president because I’m was the number one senator in the elections. They equate that with the Senate presidency. I don’t think so.)

Villar and Senator-elect Imee Marcos was in Carcar City on Thursday morning, June 6, for the oathtaking ceremony of the Alayon Party election winners led by Talisay City Mayor and Cebu 1st District Representative-elect Eduardo Gullas.

Read more: Villar, Marcos in Alayon party oathtaking ceremony in Carcar

Villar was the number one senator in the elections as she led the senatorial race with 25,283,727 votes in the final tally.

She also said that she planned to go back to her Committee in Agriculture and Food and Environment and Natural Resources.

“Babalik tayo sa committee on Agriculture and Food and Senate committee on Environment and Natural Resources para makapagbigay tayo ng maraming hanapbuhay sa mga farmers at fisherfolks pati na rin sa mga mahihirap na kababayan natin from different communities,” she added.

(We’ll return to the Committee on Agriculture and Food and the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources so that we can provide more jobs for the farmers and fisherfolks including our poor folks from the different communities.)

Villar said that she was happy with what she was doing on her committees, and people had appreciated her works as shown in the support that she received in the May 13 elections.

She said that if she would become the next Senate president, she might no longer be able to do those things.

Earlier, talks circulated in the Senate that some senators had been pushing Villar to become the next Senate president, which prompted Senator Manny Pacquiao to make a resolution supporting Senate President Tito Sotto.

A move that had did not sit well with Villar since she was not the one who started the talk about her wanting to become a Senate president. She did not sign the resolution.

Read more: Villar refuses to sign resolution on Sotto’s continued Senate presidency

Last night (Wednesday), Villar skipped the dinner meeting of administration senators, which was held at the residence of Senator Manny Pacquiao.

Fourteen incumbent and incoming senators attended the dinner meeting.

Aside from Pacquiao, Senate President Tito Sotto, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Richard Gordon were present during the dinner meeting.

Also present were Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, Ronald dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, Francis Tolentino, and Bong Go.

Outgoing senators Gregorio Honasan II and Loren Legarda also joined the dinner.

Villar, however, explained why she did not attend the meeting.

“Kasi yung dinner nay yun, para sa mga kinakausap nila for committee chairmanship. Eh ako naman, tapos na ako eh, it’s for the others. And si senator Manny Pacquiao naman panay ang host ng dinner, eh ako naman nagpapapayat, ayaw ko ng kumakain,” she said.

(That dinner was for those, whom they were talking with for the committee chairmanship. I am already done with that. That is for the others. And, Senator Manny Pacquiao often hosts dinners and I want to become slimmer and don’t want to eat anymore.)

“It’s no longer my concern, I know my committee,” Villar added.

Read more: Sotto ‘confident’ of keeping Senate presidency

Meanwhile, Senator-elect Imee Marcos also clarified that the endorsement for Villar to be the next Senate president didn’t came from her.

“No, it was PDP (Partidong Demokratikong Pilipinas). But I think Senator Villar is not really interested and there are other party perhaps interested,” Marcos said./dbs