Cynthia Villar confident Alan Cayetano will be Senate president

Senator Cynthia Villar believes that the Senate presidency is already in the bag for fellow Nacionalista Party member, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Villar nodded her head when asked during a press conference if Cayetano, the running mate of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte in the last election, would secure the post currently occupied by Senator Franklin Drilon.

"I think so ... oo," she said.

She revealed that she was the first senator to affix her signature on the resolution being circulated by Cayetano calling for his election to the Senate's top post.

Villar added she was told by someone from Duterte's camp that Cayetano is the incoming president's choice.

Apart from Villar, senator-elect Manny Pacquiao and 13 other senators have reportedly expressed their commitment to Cayetano.

However, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, another NP member, may not join the majority bloc in the 17th Congress if Cayetano wins the post, according to Villar.

"Parang magma-minority. I'm not sure," she said.

Trillanes was critical of Duterte's candidacy that he even sponsored negative television advertisements and filed plunder and malversation raps against the Davao City mayor with the Office of the Ombudsman days before the campaign period ended early this month.

Senators Vicente Sotto III and Aquilino Pimentel III, the lone member of Duterte's PDP-Laban in the Senate, are also gunning for the top Senate position.

Any candidate for the Senate presidency should get at least 13 votes from the 24-member chamber to unseat Drilon, a stalwart of outgoing ruling Liberal Party.

Otherwise, Drilon would be able to retain his seat.

In a chance interview, Drilon said the LP bloc is a force to reckon with in the Senate.

"They have to contend with us to make their 13. We can also make 13. These things do not get settled until the last minute," he told reporters.

LP members include Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Ralph Recto and Leila de Lima while Joel Villanueva  (Cibac partylist) and Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan) ran under the administration banner in the May 9 elections.

"We have a solid group here. We have a group of seven, we can coalesce with six," Drilon said. — RSJ, GMA News