Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri delivers his speech as he steps down on May 20, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

SENATE-  ZUBIRI

Rowegie Abanto

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — The bloc of senators allied with Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri — who was replaced by Sen. Francis Escudero at the Senate helm during Monday&#x27;s shakeup — is mulling joining the chamber&#x27;s minority group, Sen. JV Ejercito said Thursday.</p><p>Speaking on ANC&#x27;s &quot;Headstart,&quot; Ejercito — a member of the group, also called the &quot;Magic 7&quot; — said that while they decided to become independent &quot;while emotions are high&quot; after the chamber&#x27;s leadership change, uniting with the Senate minority bloc is also an option.</p><p>&quot;That&#x27;s one of the considerations because we are not part of the majority anyway,&quot; he said. <span></span><br/></p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/23/migz-zubiri-now-leads-senate-economic-affairs-panel-831" id="isPasted">READ: Migz Zubiri now leads Senate economic affairs panel</a></div><p>The &quot;Magic 7&quot; is composed of Senators Zubiri, Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Sherwin Gatchalian, Sonny Angara, Joel Villanueva, and Loren Legarda.</p><p>The Senate minority bloc has Senators Risa Hontiveros and Koko Pimentel.</p><p>Ejercito said that he, Binay, and Villanueva floated the idea of merging with the minority group, adding that Pimentel was also &quot;talking&quot; to them to coalesce.</p><p>&quot;We are used to be in the minority from, I think, majority of my life as a senator… we were in the minority with Sen. Nancy Binay,&quot; Ejercito said.</p><p>When asked whether joining the minority bloc meant opposing the administration, Ejercito said, &quot;Being in the minority does not mean you are against the administration. But we are just on the other side in the Senate leadership.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sPt_XbFg-Y" id="isPasted">WATCH: Zubiri on politics: &#x27;There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests&#x27;</a></div><p>For now, <span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Zubiri’s bloc remains part of the new Senate majority, Escudero said.    </span><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span></p><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Pasya nila yun pero sa ngayon base sa tradisyon at rules ng Senado, tinuturing namin silang  bahagi sila ng mayorya… Kung maalala niyo after noong  election by acclamation, 2 lamang ang nag-manifest na sila ay nag-a-abtsain at di sumali sa boto kaya nanatili sila sa minority: Si Sen. Pimentel at saka si Sen. Hontiveros,&quot; Escudero said.</span></div><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Malayang makakapag-manifest kahit anong oras basta may plenary session kami ang sinuman miyembro na umanib sa minority, pero sa ngayon bahagi sila ng mayorya.. Bahagi man sila ng mayorya o minorya, gaya ng sinabi ko sa talumpati ko matapos ako manumpa, tinuturing ko silang pare-parehong miyembro ng Senado.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(That&#x27;s up to them but right now they remain with the majority because after the election by acclamation only 2 abstained, Senators Pimentel and Hontiveros. Any member can manifest their intention to join the minority whenever there is a plenary session. Nonetheless, they are all senators to me.)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/22/escudero-elected-by-acclamation-unopposed-1113">Escudero elected by acclamation, unopposed</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Escudero said his leadership has filled up all the committee chairmanships left vacant by the change of Senate Leadership. </span><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">He indicated that the Committee on Youth, which Angara previously chaired, could be merged with the Committee on Sports now led by Sen. Christopher Lawrence Go. </span><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Escudero said Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino was tasked to study that matter. </span></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oD6x0J2AUNc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>The bloc of senators allied with Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri — who was replaced by Sen. Francis Escudero at the Senate helm during Monday's shakeup — is mulling joining the chamber's minority group, Sen. JV Ejercito said.</p>

The bloc of senators allied with Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri — who was replaced by Sen. Francis Escudero at the Senate helm during Monday's shakeup — is mulling joining the chamber's minority group, Sen. JV Ejercito said.

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Zubiri bloc mulls joining Senate minority: JV Ejercito

Zubiri bloc mulls joining Senate minority: JV Ejercito

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 23, 2024 12:15 PM PHT

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Updated May 23, 2024 02:05 PM PHT

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