Former Senate president Franklin Drilon could have been Chief Justice Franklin Drilon had he been less circumspect.

Powerful figures — then retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and the late President Noynoy Aquino — wanted him to head the judiciary, but Drilon declined out of delicadeza since he would be replacing Renato Corona, who was ousted by the Senate impeachment court in which he had served.

“Paganiban encouraged me to go there because, number one, the SC was then so divided.

They wanted somebody, an outsider whom they could respect, to lead them, and if I accepted the position, that would give the others a chance to be chief justice because I would be there only for about two years. But I told myself I don’t think I will do that out of delicadeza,” Drilon told Nosy Tarsee.

Chief Justice Drilon would have been a study in contrasts: reformist instinct, prosecutor’s spine, and parliamentarian’s patience.

He would have likely run the High Tribunal like a disciplined chamber, tight on procedure, intolerant of delay, allergic to theatrics.

“I was in the impeachment court, and people would say it was because I wanted to be Chief Justice, which was totally out of line, but inevitably that was how I would be perceived,” he said.

And he felt at the time that there were SC justices who were more qualified than he was.

Drilon said he declined, notwithstanding the very sincere efforts of President PNoy and the legal community to persuade him to accept the position.

“I told them it would be better for the country and our body politic for me to stay a politician and have coffee in the hotel lobbies without inhibition,” he said.

“The first rule is as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I have done my best,’ that is all right for me,” he added.

To go or not to go?

Whispers are circulating that a Duterte loyalist may have caught the Senate Majority’s eye. But the camp of the popular chamber member is pushing back, insisting he has no plans to jump ship and will remain firmly with Duterte allies. His team calls the chatter “not true” and brushes it off.

The alleged moves failed to rally enough support from the majority bloc. The rumors gained steam after two failed attempts to shake up the Senate leadership and unseat Senate President Vicente Sotto III, leaving political watchers wondering who might really be plotting a move.