FORMER Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo is not convinced that Malacañang had nothing to do with the change in Senate leadership.
This comes after new Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero said that he initiated to replace Senator Juan Miguel ‘Migz’ Zubiri as leader of the institution and that no one from the Palace spoke to him about becoming Senate President.
Meanwhile, Atty. Panelo stressed that there’s nothing wrong with Malacañang influencing the recent changes in the Senate.
“I don’t understand you people. There’s nothing wrong with Malacañang wanting to make the change because Malacañang is always interested in who [will lead], as it has an agenda. What is its agenda? Its agenda is the proposed bills that’s need to passed.”
“So, that’s only natural [for Malacañang] to intervene. There’s no problem there. After all, you will be the one to decide,” according to Atty. Salvador ‘Sal’ Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel.
Atty. Panelo added that it was only during the time of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that Malacañang did not intervene in the Senate leadership.
“We know that it was only during the time of Duterte that no one intervened. The entire presidencies in the past and the present, it’s not possible that there’s no intervention. We all know that anyway.”
“So, this independence that he’s talking about, it’s not true. You were only independent during the time of Duterte because you were not interfered with. Because if you were, what independence is there? None,” Panelo stated.
And because mid-term elections are just around the corner, the former chief presidential legal counsel believes that it’s important for a senator to be in the majority bloc to ensure its win.
“Also, even more so that there’s the election. The election is near so others are thinking, wait, if I’m not in the majority, which party do I go to? Maybe this party of mine will have no fight to put up. It’s better for me to be in the majority [because] it’s mid-term. Because during mid-term, you will win when you’re in the majority,” he added.
