By Joyce Ilas
Solar News
Solar News
The 16th Congress bodes well for the Aquino administration as new political alliances are expected to help pass important measures.
It’s raining yellow in the 16th Congress.
In the upper chamber, at least 16 senators are expected to join the majority bloc.
The Liberal Party, also known as the Yellow Party, has 4 seats in the Senate.
These are occupied by Senators Franklin Drilon, Teofisto Guingona III, Ralph Recto and neophyte Senator Bam Aquino.
Yellow-affiliated Nacionalista Party has five senators: Siblings Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Antonio Trillanes.
Other senators who ran under President Aquino’s yellow coalition in the mid-term elections also count themselves in the majority bloc: Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino’s Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, Nationalist People’s Coalition’s Loren Legarda, PDP-Laban’s Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel and independent candidates Francis Escudero and Grace Poe.
LP Chairman Senator Franklin Drilon is expected to be elected Senate President, while his predecessor, United Nationalist Alliance’s Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, is expected to emerge as Minority Leader.
In the House of Representatives, more than 200 legislators make up the majority bloc, led by another LP stalwart, House Speaker Sonny Belmonte, who is expected to retain his leadership post.
The LP dominates the chamber after 108 of its candidates won in their districts.
Two of the biggest blocs in the House are also composed of yellow-affiliated parties: the Nationalist People’s Coalition, which has 43 winning district representatives, and the Nacionalista Party with 20.
Another yellow-linked party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, is occupying two seats.
Even the opposition party United Nationalist Alliance, whose members make up the minority in the Senate is expected to join the majority bloc in the House.
Rep. Toby Tiangco, UNA Spokesman, explained that, unlike in the Senate, district representatives need to join the majority in order to obtain committee chairmanships. That will help them push for the passage of their local bills.
With LP’s huge clout in the 16th Congress, political analysts believe President Aquino could be a formidable force to reckon with, even in the legislative branch of the government.
Political analyst Earl Parreno said he believes President Aquino will not be a lame duck president: “Malaki ang utang na loob ng mga nanalo sa kanya (Those who won in the election owe him a big favor).”
Parreno added that Aquino’s influence over Congress is coming from two sources: His high trust and approval ratings and his administration’s control over the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel.
When asked about the lower chamber’s priority bills in the 16th Congress, Belmonte, for his part, says he still has to talk to the executive branch.
He however assures the public that the House of Representatives will maintain its independence from Malacañan: “It’s still up to us. Bills will still be subject to our deliberation.”
In fact, Belmonte says, he intends to push for some bills that President Aquino is not keen on supporting, such as an initiative for bringing about partial changes to the Constitution.
Parreno acknowledged, though, that, under an influential president, it could be a challenge to pass measures that he does not approve of.
He pointed out that this was seen in the 15th Congress when some lawmakers tried but failed to pass the controversial Freedom of Information Bill that aims to improve public access to government data and transaction records to foster greater transparency and accountability.
Meantime, Ateneo de Manila University Political Science Professor Ben Lim said he expects Aquino to exert total control of both chambers of Congress for at least a year, as some lawmakers, even if not organically affiliated with LP, are beholden to the President who endorsed them in the election.
Politicians tend to agree that it will be difficult to pass a bill that Aquino does not support. This is why some of them are calling on the President Aquino not to intervene in legislative matters.
But political analysts said they believe an important measure can still be passed with or without President Aquino’s blessing if there is a strong clamor coming from the chief executive’s boss — the Filipino people.
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