OUTGOING Senate President Franklin Drilon said Thursday the talks on who will head the Senate committees still continuing although Senator Vicente Sotto III had already revealed the heads of some committees.
The following is the initial list of the committees to be ledd by the senators joining the Super Majority: Senate Committee on Banks—Drilon, Rules—Sotto, Defense—Senator Gregorio Honasan II, Public Order—Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson, Tourism—Senator Nancy Binay, Public Works—Senator-elect Emmanuel Pacquiao, Finance—Senator Loren Legarda, Local Government—Senator-elect Sherwin Gatchalian, Public services—Senator Grace Poe, Education—Senator Bam Aquino, Ways and means—Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, Agriculture—Senator-elect Francis Pangilinan, Health—Senator Risa Hontiveros, Labor—Senator-elect Joel Villanueva, and Senate Committee on Justice—Senator-elect Leila de Lima.
Sotto said Poe might retain her chairmanship of the committee on public information.
He said the committee on energy was reserved for Senator Francis Escudero if he would join the majority bloc, but Escudero has said he will be in the minority.
Escudero, who has remained an independent senator, will join Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in the minority.
“Minority in the Senate does not necessarily mean opposition, and majority does not necessarily mean admin, as you know,” Escudero said in a text message.
Trillanes of the Nacionalista Party said he will remain with the Minority Bloc to freely pursue his advocacies.
Meanwhile, Drilon on Thursday assured President-elect Rodrigo Duterte of a “cooperative but not a subservient” Senate.
“This means we will not just amen and amen. We will scrutinize, We will debate,” Drilon told DZMM radio.
He stressed they will not merely accede to any law that will be introduced by PDP-Laban led by Pimentel as its president and Duterte as chairman.
“No such thing… Have you noticed that it was just “Amen and Amen?” There were questions even in changing the name of a street,” said Drilon who is the incoming Senate President Pro Tempore.
Drilon said they had agreed in the Senate, their party, the Liberal Party together with the Nationalist People’s Coalition and the other parties would follow the mandate of the people and PDP-Laban that won in the last elections.
Because of this, he said, they decided on Pimentel as the next Senate president although he was the only senator-member of the Upper Chamber.
“This means that we are recognizing the mandate of the people… that PDP-Laban is the party of the [elected] President and it has programs in running the country,” said Drilon who insisted the six LP members of the Senate remained intact and supportive of Pimentel.
But Drilon’s party mate at the LP, outgoing Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, said he had not signed any resolution supporting Pimentel for President and being part of a Super Majority.
“I have a month to study my options including being part of the minority,” Recto said in a text message on Thursday.
He also debunked the reports he wanted to be the chairman of the finance committee, which was given to Senator Loren Legarda.
“I am not asking for any committee. Offers were made re finance. I was considering it,” said Recto as he emphasized that a lot of things could still happen since the new Senate President and the chairmanships of the committees would be held in July.
In contemplating on joining the Minority Bloc, Recto said the Senate also needed a strong responsible fiscalizer to strengthen democracy.
“Major policy issues will be debated. Like federalism, the restoration of death penalty, etc. I want to be active in the debates and share my experiences,” Recto said.
Meanwhile, Drilon said he was not aware what happened to outgoing Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who remained quiet when news broke out that Pimentel would be the next leader of the Senate.