Senator Alan Peter Cayetano stressed Friday he is not “fighting for any committee” in the Senate.
Cayetano said “there are problems” in the majority because many committees “are being given.”
“We are indeed not fighting (for any position). Even Koko (Pimentel) appreciates that we did not fight for the position of minority leader,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano however said, “if there’s an available committee that is suited to me, I won’t reject it.”
Cayetano also earlier said he won’t join the “super majority” bloc in the Senate in the 19th Congress if the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon) will not be given to him.
Sen. Francis Tolentino was the elected chairperson of the Blue Ribbon committee while Cayetano got the chairmanship of the committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises.
His sister, Sen. Pia Cayetano, retained her chairmanship of the Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation and Futures Thinking committee which she held in the previous 18th Congress.
The Cayetano siblings did not join either the majority or minority bloc in the Upper Chamber and opted to remain independent.
Except for Sen. Imee Marcos who has two committees—Foreign Relations and Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development during the first round of the election for committee chairmanship, the other senators each got one committee.
They are the following: Finance- Senator Sonny Angara; Accounts- Sen. Nancy Binay; Public Order and Dangerous Drugs- Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa; Local Government- Sen. JV Ejercito; National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation- Sen. Jinggoy Estrada; Ways and Means- Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian; Health and Demography- Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go; Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality- Sen. Risa Hontiveros; Games and Amusement- Sen. Lito Lapid, Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes- Sen. Robin Padilla; Public Services- Sen. Grace Poe; Public Works- Sen. Bong Revilla; Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education- Sen. Chiz Escudero; Energy- Sen. Raffy Tulfo; Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform- Sen. Cynthia A. Villar; and Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship- Sen. Mark Villar.
The election for the committee chairmanship will resume Monday, August 1.
