Senate ‘super majority’ lists prospective committee chairmanships

The 17 members of the new “super majority” in the Senate will get the first crack at the committee chairmanships, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimenel III, prospective Senate president, said yesterday.

Chairmen of the committees in the outgoing 16th Congress will not automatically retain their positions in the 17th Congress which begins

July 25, except for Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) who will retain her chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee, he said.

Senator Pimentel, president of the PDP-Laban party, has been chosen to be the next Senate president by 17 senators who have formed a new majority in the chamber. He will succeed Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, vice chairman of the Liberal Party (LP).

“This is a new majority. This is a new Congress,” Pimentel said after the six-man LP bloc headed by Drilon, the NPC with three senators led by current Deputy Minority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III, and independent senators agreed to form a new 17-member majority in the 24-member Senate and help the incoming Duterte administration with its programs.

“The early majority or entrants (composing the 17 pro-Pimentel senators) will be given the first crack to choose. That is logical,” Pimentel said.

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, member of the Nacionalista Party (NP) which was the first party to sign an alliance agreement with PDP-Laban, is not among the 17 for Pimentel but is instead allied with Duterte’s vice-presidential running mate, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter S. Cayetano (NP).

She said she should be given the privilege of retaining her chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture and Food Committee. Also in the pro-Cayetano group with her are Senators Antonio F. Trillanes IV, Richard Gordon, Jose Miguel Zubiri, and Francis Escudero.

Before the selection of Pimentel as the incoming Senate chief, Villar said last week that she was prepared to be in the minority group “but I want that Committee on Agriculture.”

“Kahit ka naman minority, you are entitled to your previous committee kung hindi ka umaalis doon,” she said. (Even if you belong to the minority… as long as you have not vacated that chairmanship), she said. “Tradition iyon sa Senate na kapag ikaw ang may hawak ng committee whether you are minority or majority, they give it to you,” she said. (There is a tradition in the Senate that the committee that you hold is given to you.)

Pimentel’s “super majority.” however, reportedly agreed to have the agriculture committee headed by returning Sen. Francis Pangilinan (LP), presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernization in the Aquino administration.

Majority agrees on list

Senator Sotto released yesterday a list of committee chairmanships, as agreed upon by the “super majority,” he said.

Drilon, who would be the Senate president pro tempore, would be given the Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies. Sotto, as majority leader, would handle the Committee on Rules.

The other prospective committee chairmen are:

Sen. Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV, Committee on Education, Arts, and Culture; Senator-elect Leila de Lima, Committee on Justice and Human Rights; Senator-elect Risa Hontiveros, Committee on Health; Senator-elect Joel Villanueva, Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development;

Returning Senator Pangilinan, Committee on Agriculture; returning Senator, Panfilo Lacson, Committee on Public Order; Senator Legarda, Committee on Finance; Sen. Nancy Binay; Tourism Committee; Senatorelect Sherwin Gatchalian, Committee on Local Government; Sen. Gregorio Honasan II, Committee on Defense;

Sen. Grace Poe, Committee on Public Services (she may also retain the chairmanship of the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media); and Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, who will keep the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

According to Sotto, Drilon is ready to give up the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Banks if Sen. Ralph Recto decides to join the majority. Recto, a member of the Liberal Party, has said he is not yet decided on whether to join the majority and that he is still studying his options.

Pimentel had earlier disclosed they are offering chairmanship of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, his rival in the Senate presidency race.

Sotto said they are ready to give chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Energy to Sen. Francis Escudero if he decides to join the majority bloc. But Escudero and Senator Trillanes have said they are considering being part of the minority bloc.