THE Liberal Party (LP) and its allies in the Senate are eyeing a coalition with other senators to ensure that incumbent Senate President Franklin Drilon would keep his post in the 17th Congress.
“The Liberal Party has six in the Senate in the 17th Congress, plus our ally group, which is represented by Senator Risa Hontiveros, so we have a group of seven,” Drilon, vice chairman of LP, told reporters yesterday.
“They have to contend with us to make their thirteen. We can also make thirteen. These things do not get settled until the last minute,” he said.
Aside from Drilon and Hontiveros, four other LP members and allies were elected in the last May 9 elections and they are Senators-elect Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Leila de Lima, Ralph Recto and Joel Villanueva. Another LP member is incumbent Senator Bam Aquino.
Drilon, Pangilinan, Recto, Aquino and de Lima are all LP members while Hontiveros and Villanueva are representatives of Akbayan and Cibac partylist groups, respectively, but they ran under the LP-led slate during the last elections.