January 5, 2002, The Philippine Star, The Senate Today: Watch Your Back, Ople Advises Drilon, by Efren Danao,

January 5, 2002, The Philippine Star, The Senate Today: Watch Your Back, Ople Advises Drilon, by Efren Danao,

Manila, (STAR) -- Watch your back.

This was the unsolicited advice Sen. Blas Ople gave yesterday to Senate President Franklin Drilon amid reports that not just two but five of Drilon’s supporters in the Senate are set to defect to the opposition.

This came as Drilon decided against leading the Philippine delegation to the four-day Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum in Hawaii that is due to start tomorrow.

Ople hinted that rumblings in the Senate could have forced Drilon to stay home rather than attend a conference of a vital arm of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

"I think he has to watch his back all the time," Ople said.

He said Drilon might have believed that fence-mending is more important than attending an APEC-sponsored international conference.

With Drilon’s decision to stay home, Ople, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations, will head the Philippine delegation that will also include eight congressmen and four other senators.

Ople predicted that the contest between the opposition and the administration coalition for control of the Senate would come to a head in the next 10 days, with the opposition most likely constituting the new majority.

He explained that within the next 10 days, all senators, including the delegates to the APEC-sanctioned meet, and those vacationing abroad, would have been in the country, and their leanings determined.

"This will give Drilon and (Senate Minority Leader Aquilino) Pimentel a lot of time to maneuver," he added.

Ople said he does not expect the majority to take lying down all challenges to its hold in the Senate, but he contended that the opposition has the edge in the power struggle.

Pimentel said the other day that he would be the Senate president the moment the opposition gets the needed majority in the Senate.

Ople said that the question on the opposition’s nominee still has to be discussed in a caucus, with Sen. Edgardo Angara, president of the biggest opposition party, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, as another contender.

"But the momentum of history seems to be in favor of Pimentel," he said.

Ople stressed that while he has no complaint against the leadership of Drilon, he acknowledged that a big number of senators with the present majority are getting disenchanted with Drilon.

When asked what could be the reason for the disenchantment, Ople said that distribution of committees was the most common source of discontent.

"For instance, one highly placed senator was expected to get the chairmanship of the subcommittee on agriculture of the finance committee but this was given to another senator," Ople said.

He predicted that the number of opposition senators could swell from the present 11 to 16, which would make for a stable leadership. This would reduce the number of the administration coalition senators from the present 13 to only eight.

He said that while he was not involved in the "recruitment" of new members of the opposition, he was aware that his colleagues in the opposition are actively engaged in this effort.

Like Pimentel, he refused to identify the administration senators expected to join the opposition, saying this was relayed to him in strictest confidence.

Some media outfits have speculated that Senators John Osmeña and Noli "Kabayan" de Castro are the two members of the majority most likely to join the opposition.

Osmeña had been bewailing the failure of the administration, "The winners," to reconcile with the group of former President Joseph Estrada, "the losers." He had already quit his chairmanship of the committee on accounts after a dispute with Drilon over Senate finances.

Osmeña, however, said that he has no intention of going to the opposition at the moment.

"Who will the opposition choose to replace Drilon?" Osmeña asked, indicating that he gives the question of leadership a great significance in making any decision.

He also stressed that the transfer of only two senators to the opposition would not account for a stable Senate leadership.

"The opposition will have only a two-vote edge," he said.

He echoed the observations of Ople that a plurality of at least four would ensure a more stable leadership in the chamber.

De Castro, in a television interview, said that while he had some questions on the Senate leadership in the past, this is no reason enough for him to leave the majority.

Earlier, majority senators Francis Pangilinan and Ramon Magsaysay disputed claims that their hold in the chamber is loosening. They claimed that the majority would even gain two more members instead of losing two, to give them a 15-9 edge in the 24-member chamber.

Ople said he expected the majority to work as feverishly as the minority for continued control of the Senate. He, however, doubted whether the majority could gain more members, even with the involvement of President Arroyo.

"There is nothing that Malacañang could offer us. On the other hand, the opposition has the advantage of more freedom," he explained.

He said that opposition senators up for reelection in 2004 are very comfortable with the opposition and could not possibly succumb to any carrots from Malacañang.

"The re-electionist senators won on their own merit. They won even when they were in the minority. Matitibay sila (They are strong)," he said.

He identified the re-electionist senators of the opposition as Rodolfo Biazon, Robert Jaworski, Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Pimentel.

At the same time, he warned against involving the President in the contest for leadership of the Senate. He said that while Mrs. Arroyo is the titular head of the majority coalition, this position could not be paramount to the constitutional provision on separation of powers.