MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Tito Sotto III brushed off talks of “term-sharing” in the Senate leadership, saying the idea of installing Senator Loren Legarda as Senate president before the end of the 20th Congress began as a joke and later evolved into a serious discussion about making history.
Sotto said it was Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan who first jokingly raised the idea of “term-sharing” or “power-sharing” while senators were chatting in the lounge, a light moment that was later picked up on social media and sparked speculation of a leadership deal.
“Kiko was joking at the beginning,” Sotto recounted. “We were in the back. I was upstairs, I came down, we came down to the lounge. They were joking about Loren.”
The joke, however, led to a more thoughtful conversation among senators, Sotto said, particularly about the possibility of finally having the Senate’s first female president.
“Then we thought about it, we all thought about it, maybe it’s good,” he said. “They want to have the first woman Senate president. Let’s do it.”
Sotto stressed that calling the plan “term-sharing” is inaccurate, as there would be no division of the Senate presidency into equal or pre-agreed portions. Under the plan being discussed, Legarda would be elected Senate president only toward the end of the 20th Congress, after the passage of the 2027 national budget, or sometime in 2028, before her term ends.
“So it’s not exactly term-sharing,” Sotto explained. “If term-sharing is one-and-a-half years, one year, one-and-a-half years, that’s not it. The right term is we plan to make her Senate president towards the end of her term, end of the 20th Congress.”
Sotto said former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri was among those who reacted positively to the idea. “He said, okay, why not?” Sotto recalled.
“It’s not term-sharing,” he said. “It’s about making her the first woman Senate president, before the end of the 20th Congress.”
The discussion gained public attention after Pangilinan posted a photo on social media showing Sotto and Legarda standing side by side, accompanied by the hashtag “#PowerSharing.” Asked about the post, Pangilinan clarified that the term was used jokingly and that no final agreement had been reached.
“Power-sharing was only proposed, but it was not final,” Pangilinan said, noting that at the time, only nine senators were present and counted as part of the majority.
Legarda said she has yet to be formally informed about any plan to make her Senate president and declined to comment until she speaks directly with Sotto.
“I will first talk to Senate President Sotto to ask and clarify the meaning of their plan,” Legarda said, adding that she was surprised by reports naming her as a prospective Senate leader.
Legarda said the discussion in the lounge where the issue arose focused primarily on the Blue Ribbon Committee report, with several members of the majority bloc present. She declined to answer questions on whether members of the minority had urged her to seek the Senate presidency or what agreements, if any, were reached when the session resumed.