Family affair at Senate looms

Four more seats in the Senate in the 19th Congress are set to be occupied by candidates from established political families.

With only 52 Certificates of Canvass left to be tallied, the roster of the 12 new senators that will complete the 24-seat Senate is all but complete.

The spots of former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and half-siblings JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada are already secured.

Cayetano will join Sen. Pia Cayetano with the latter’s term expiring in 2025. Villar is making his debut in the same chamber where his mother, Sen. Cynthia Villar, is touted to have the inside track on the Senate presidency.

Meanwhile, Ejercito and Estrada are both returning senators, half-brothers and sons of former President Joseph Estrada. They both failed in their 2019 Senate bids.