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Senate politics FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 06/23/2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Senate politics



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
06/23/2010
Getting the top Senate slot may not be all that easy for Liberal Party (LP)’s Sen. Francis Pangilinan, if the Villar-Nacionalista bloc does not break, which is probably why presidential sister has been offering various senators choice positions in the Senate committees as chairman.

Truth is, whatever it is Kris and Pangilinan are offering today to senators whom they hope will join this LP bloc, the same positions can also be offered by the Villar bloc — save of course for the four-man bloc of Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, who has made a stand not to join the Villar bloc, for reasons of delicadeza. But this four-man bloc is certainly going to be a potent force in this Senate leadership struggle between the two main camps.

The truth is, in forming a coalition to get the numbers, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate, the sweetener offered to members being approached to join the coalition, or, in the case of the Senate, the majority bloc, since no one party ever has the numbers, courtesy of the anomaly of having a multi-party system under a presidential form of government, is the committee chairmanships, usually seen by the lawmakers as the plum prize.
It should be fairly easy to divide the Senate spoils — if one really had at least 12 signatories for a resolution to effect a leadership change, as getting one more from another camp would be a breeze.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100623com2.html


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