As the two contending candidates for the Senate Presidency continue to woo their colleagues to join their respective camps, Sen. Edgardo Angara Sunday confirmed the presence of “outside forces” trying to join the Senate intramurals.

In an interview over Radio DZBB, Angara Sunday admitted that both Nacionalista Party's Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. and Liberal Party's Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan are “actively wooing” all senators the past few weeks and presupposes that these “lobbying” would be very intensive up to the opening of the 16th Congress.

Angara expressed concern over external forces whom he said want to join in the foray.

He warned colleagues against entertaining such ideas saying that this could deride the Senate's independence as an institution.

“Both camps (are wooing), especially now, in the past weeks and I suppose onwards, very intensive the wooing would be,” Angara said in Filipino. “But we have noticed, in our group, that there are other forces that are making their move in favor of one or the other.”