(Eagle News)–Senator Tito Sotto retained the Senate presidency, following a meeting with incumbent and incoming senators in Manny Pacquiao’s residence on Wednesday, June 5, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said.
“Yes, it’s SP Sotto pa rin,” Zubiri told reporters.
Apart from Pacquiao and Zubiri, the meeting was attended by Sotto, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Senators Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Richard Gordon.
Incoming senators Lito Lapid, Ronald dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, Francis Tolentino, Bong Revilla and Bong Go were also present, together with outgoing senators Gringo Honasan and Loren Legarda.
The reported development came after Marcos and Tolentino said there was a push to make Senator Cynthia Villar, who was not present in the meeting, as the next Senate president.
Villar did not sign Senator Panfilo Lacson’s resolution aimed at determining who support Sotto as Senate president, saying she would rather wait for her fellow Nacionalista Party members Marcos and incoming senator Pia Cayetano.
Cayetano was also not present in the meeting, as she was reportedly out of the country.