Some incumbent and incoming senators gathered on Wednesday night, June 5, at a dinner meeting held at the residence of Senator Manny Pacquiao in Makati City.
In a photo posted by Pacquiao on his Twitter account, those who attended were some of the winners of the 2019 senatorial race: Christopher “Bong” Go, Francis Tolentino, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, and Nancy Binay.
Also present at the dinner were Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Joel Villanueva and Sherwin Gatchalian, and outgoing Senators Gringo Honasan and Loren Legarda.
Senator Grace Poe was not in the tweeted photo as she arrived late in the gathering. Senator Cynthia Villar and Senator-elect Pia Cayetano, however, were not around.
According to Villanueva, the meeting did not last long as the meeting was “more of welcoming them and just get the opportunity to have this dinner fellowship.”
Zubiri, meanwhile, said the senators were asked to list down their preferred committees.
“Pero mukang naayos na ni SP [Senate President] ang mga problema sa committees (But it seems like the Senate President already fixed the problems with the committees),” he continued.
The dinner meeting was held amid reports of leadership row in the upper chamber. On Monday, at least 14 senators signed a resolution expressing support for Sotto’s leadership in the incoming 18th Congress.
Those who signed the measure were Senators Pacquiao, Gatchalian, Poe, Binay, Zubiri, Villanueva, Recto, Angara, Legarda, Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel III, Francis Escudero, and Richard Gordon. But Villar, who topped the 2019 senatorial elections, refused to give her signature.
In explaining her reason for not signing, Villar said she told Pacquiao, campaign manager of ruling party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) in the 2019 polls, to ‘fix’ the issue first within their party.
“Baka pirma ka nang pirma diyan, iyong mga kapartido mo may complaint (You are signing the resolution while your partymates have complaints),” Villar told reporters, referring to Pacquiao.
“In my behalf naman, I cannot sign because we have two newcomers from NP (Nacionalista Party). I want to talk to them about the issues bago ako pumirma (before I sign),” she said, this time, referring to Marcos and Cayetano.
“That’s part of being a member of the party. You don’t just take care of yourself. You make sure na ang kapartido mo maayos din (that your parytmates are okay),” the lady senator further explained.
Pimentel, however, denied that there were issues among PDP-Laban’s members.
“Alam ko naman ‘yun (I know) that we have to fix our own party. Nobody has to tell us to fix our own party,” Pimentel told the media.