9 senators complete cast for canvass body By Angie M. Rosales 05/25/2010

9 senators complete cast for canvass body

By Angie M. Rosales 05/25/2010 The Senate has formed its contingent for the joint Congressional body to complete the national board of canvassers for the presidential and vice presidential votes after initial difficulties due to the inhibition sought by several senators in being part of the body that led to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile reprimanding his reluctant colleagues. Nine senators initially sought to be inhibited from joining the Congress body but the Senate managed to form a nine-man panel with four alternate members after Enrile called a closed-door, all senators’ caucus prior to their afternoon plenary session. Enrile did not hide his disgust to reporters over the position taken by some of his colleagues who sought to inhibit themselves from the canvassing proceedings due to various political reasons which may perceive them as biased participants. “They cannot do that. They need to be present. If we will not have a quorum, I will compel them to attend. No one is immune here. If you are a senator, you have to do your job. You cannot inhibit yourself from your own responsibilities,” he said. Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri admitted the Senate had some difficulties in forming the panel after nine members sought to exclude themselves from participating in the proceedings. Initially, only six senators were willing to take in the responsibility and they needed to convince three more to fill in all the required seats, Zubiri said. “The problem, in our case, was a number of our members ran for the presidency and the vice presidency. Under the rules, they are barred from the joint canvassing committee while the others openly endorsed their presidential bets. So there is only a few of us left,” he said. Besides Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Senators Manuel Villar Jr., Richard Gordon and Jamby Madrigal were presidential bets while Senators Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and Loren Legarda sought the vice presidency. Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada along with Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Francis “Chiz” Escudero also expressed their desire to be inhibited from the proceedings and the panel. Escudero informed Enrile over the weekend of his decision to be excluded from the panel since he had openly endorsed and played an active role in the campaigns of Aquino and vice president apparent Jejomar Binay. “Propriety and delicadeza dictate that I inhibit myself from any participation in the canvassing process so as not to cause undue delay or cast doubts in the proclamation of the winning candidates,” he said.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed4.html

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