MANILA –Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Wednesday assured that the Senate super majority is still intact despite some differences on political issues.
“The point is one member of the majority is not the majority,” Pimentel told reporters in an interview after a colleague expressed concern that senators in the majority bloc who were members of the Liberal Party (LP) would usually vote against the majority.
Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Tuesday asked LP senators to make a decision whether to stay in the Senate super majority bloc or transfer to the minority.
Ejercito said it was not fair for LP senators to enjoy the “benefits of being in the majority but on the same time we are also attacking and hitting and going against the majority.”
Pimentel, however, said that after having a word with Ejercito, the latter admitted that he made a slight mistake in his recent comment.
The Senate President said that what mattered was that senators belonging to the majority bloc were not divided in “substance” and instead had “a common legislative agenda”.
“Pero huwag kami dapat maghati-hati sa substance ng aming common legislative agenda of the majority. Kapag doon kami nagkahati-hati, it is time to rethink why we are together. (But we in the majority should not be divided in substance of our common legislative agenda. If that is where we don’t agree, it is time to rethink why we are together),” Pimentel said.
Ejercito’s comment came after most LP senators voted to reconsider a committee referral of a resolution to possibly overhaul the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Pimentel said that “some division” was still acceptable within the majority.
“I can accept some division even within the majority. So don’t worry, the majority is intact, as far as the substance is concerned,” he said.