SENATE Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano admitted on Monday that he is interested in the Senate presidency as he indicated that the leadership race was already a done deal.
鈥淲ala pa akong nakitang senador na hindi interested na maging Senate President [so] let鈥檚 not be hypocritical about it,鈥� said Cayetano, running mate of presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, when asked if he was interested in the post.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 really a consensus e. Kailangan mo ng at least 13 senators pero sa bigat ng legislative agenda ni presumptive President siguro kailangan mo ng majority ng between 15 to 18 kasi halimbawa sa death penalty, hindi porke sa majority e payag na sa death penalty. Yung pagtaas ng sweldo ng police, we want to do that right away pero this early, may mga nagsasabi na you can鈥檛 do that without the others,鈥� he said.
Senator Aquilino 鈥淜oko鈥� Pimentel III earlier expressed his intention to seek the post while Senator Vicente 鈥淭ito鈥� Sotto III claimed that at least 11 senators are pushing for him.
READ: Koko Pimentel eyes Senate Presidency
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Duterte and Pimentel are chairman and president of PDP-Laban, respectively, while Cayetano is a member of the Nacionalista Party (NP).
Cayetano said he had already talked with Duterte and Pimentel separately on the issue of the Senate presidency but he cannot say more.
鈥淏ut nagkakaintindihan naman kami and malinaw naman ang direction namin as a group so if he鈥檚 going to change direction, it鈥檚 really up to him,鈥� he said, referring to Pimentel.
Although Duterte has a preferred candidate for Senate President, he would not publicly endorse an official candidate for the post.
Pressed to name Duterte鈥檚 preferred candidate, Cayetano said: 鈥淧abayaan na natin silang magsabi at the right time鈥︹��
Asked if it was possible that Duterte would only pick either him or Pimentel for the post, Cayetano said: 鈥淜ung susunod sa kung sino ang gusto, kung ano ang usapan, etc. But it鈥檚 a free country so anyone can declare that they want to run para din naman sa House yan. Very clear naman kung sino ang gusto but anyone can run.鈥�
But this early, Cayetano said his colleagues already knew their preferred Senate President as well as the choice of Duterte.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a matter of posturing for committee and whether you agree or not with some of the controversial measures so it鈥檚 posturing fort hat but more or less its 80 to 90 (percent) sold up already.鈥�
鈥淏ut you know until the final bell rings ika nga di ba, until nag botohan, you never know exactly who but more or less may consensus na pero mas madali kasing magkaroon ng consensus kung sino ang Senate President, mas mahirap mag consensus sa committee chairmanship and dun sa mga gustong ipasa,鈥� he further said.