{"id":214485,"date":"2019-05-15T05:06:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T09:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=214485"},"modified":"2019-05-15T05:14:55","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T09:14:55","slug":"senate-to-remain-independent-amid-expected-victory-of-prrd-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/15\/senate-to-remain-independent-amid-expected-victory-of-prrd-bets\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate to remain independent amid expected victory of PRRD bets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cHaving said that, I have no doubt that any reorganization in the Senate will need the President\u2019s blessing,\u201d he added. (File photo<\/a>: Senate of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Wednesday said the Senate will remain independent even if the upper chamber will be dominated by administration allies.<\/p>\n

Zubiri allayed fears that the chamber would become Malacanang’s rubber-stamp, saying that they will carefully scrutinize and not railroad the passage of the administration\u2019s pet bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senate as an institution will always continue to remain independent as proven by our track record in passing legislation,\u201d Zubiri told reporters in a text message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we see an administration-led measure that is good for the people then we support it, but if we see it needs further study and debate then we don\u2019t force it or rush into it,\u201d Zubiri added.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon echoed Zubiri\u2019s sentiment, assuring that his bloc would \u201cdo everything\u201d to keep the independence of the chamber.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if the Senate becomes a \u2018rubber stamp\u2019, we assure our people that we will not be a part of it… that will be the decision of the majority,\u201d Drilon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving said that, I have no doubt that any reorganization in the Senate will need the President\u2019s blessing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Majority of the administration\u2019s senatorial candidates are dominating the top 12 of the senatorial race in the just-concluded mid-term elections on Monday.<\/p>\n

The figure is based on the partial official tally of the votes from 34 Certificates of Canvass (COCs) by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC).<\/p>\n

Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) Senate bets included in the Top 12 are reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar, who topped the list with 4,092,454 votes, former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Bong Go, 3,293,341 (3rd); former Senator Pia Cayetano, 3,251,819 (4th); and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Bato dela Rosa, 3,128,061 (5th).<\/p>\n

Also included are reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara, 3,022,955 (6th); former Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, 2,850,643 (7th); former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino, 2,584,833 (8th); and reelectionist Koko Pimentel, 2,439,571 (10th).<\/p>\n

Completing the partial official list are reelectionist Senator Grace Poe (2nd), 3,650,288; former Senator Lito Lapid, 2,520,316 (9th); reelectionist Nancy Binay, 2,366,035 (11th) and opposition bet and reelectionist Senator Bam Aquino, 2,335,724 (12).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Wednesday said the Senate will remain independent even if the upper chamber …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":199258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-filane-mikee-cervantes","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214486,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214485\/revisions\/214486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}