Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday joined the Senate minority, while Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito declined an offer to become majority leader.<\/p>\n
In a manifestation on the floor, Zubiri said he wanted to be associated with the minority bloc following the leadership change that installed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to be associated with the minority bloc, Mr. President, if I may,\u201d Zubiri said.<\/p>\n
Zubiri addressed criticisms that he had been \u201cfence-sitting\u201d after he abstained during the Senate reorganization.<\/p>\n
\u201cBinatikos nga ako nila, sabi nila na ako nag fence-sitting at nag-abstain. Nag-abstain lang ako para (They criticized me, saying I was fence-sitting and abstained. I abstained only so) I have a free hand to vote on which issue that I think is important for the Filipino people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ejercito, meanwhile, thanked Cayetano for offering him the majority leader post but said he preferred to maintain his independence at this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’d like to thank Mr. President for the trust and honor that I was offered to become the majority leader,\u201d Ejercito said.<\/p>\n
He described the majority leader post as one of the most powerful positions in the Senate but said he believed he could better perform his duties and pursue his priority programs independently.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of this time, I would rather maintain my independence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cayetano said he understood Ejercito\u2019s position and would respect the decision of any senator, regardless of political alignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to be good friends despite the political divisions or the nomenclature of who is in the majority or the minority,\u201d Cayetano said.<\/p>\n
Asked by Cayetano whether he would be independent or with the minority \u201cfor the purposes of today\u201d and unless a change is made, Ejercito replied: \u201cFor now, Mr. President, I’ll be with the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ejercito again thanked Cayetano for respecting his decision, saying senators would \u201cstill be friends no matter what.\u201d (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zubiri\u2019s move to the minority bloc marked a significant development in the Senate\u2019s political landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t