20 senators pick Koko as chief; Recto heads minority

MANILA, Philippines - With 20 votes from his peers, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III is now the Senate President.

Former Senate president Franklin Drilon was elected as the Senate President Pro Tempore, while Sen. Vicente Sotto III was named majority leader.

Sen. Ralph Recto, who was nominated as Senate president by Sen. Francis Escudero, is now the minority leader. Joining the two in the minority bloc is Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

“This is one Senate minority, I assure you, that will know when to stand its ground and when to seek common ground,” Recto told his colleagues. “We will also do our role to identify moral hazards and demarcate them as no-go zones for all of us.”

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who also vied for the Senate presidency, was the only senator who was not present during the opening of the 17th Congress.

Neophyte Sen. Manny Pacquiao, the youngest member of the Senate, administered the oath to Pimentel.

“Inevitably then, as a part of the machinery of government, change must also come to and from the Senate. One evidence of change coming to this chamber is the fact that you, my dear colleagues, have made it possible for the lone representative of the PDP-Laban to be elected president of the chamber,” Pimentel said in his speech after being installed as Senate president.

He also noted that this is the first time that the President, House Speaker and Senate President all hail from Mindanao, which he said was significant because the people of Mindanao have long felt that they have been excluded from the center of political power.

“Now history seems to be making up for all those times of exclusion and it is now mandating that the two branches of our tripartite governmental setup, namely the executive and the legislative departments, be led by individuals from Mindanao,” Pimentel said.

“Should that circumstance then be a source of pride? Forgive me, my dear friends, if I say yes. Because at the very least, it reassures our fellow Mindanaonons that we are, after all, truly at par with the rest of the country in matters of public service,” he added.

11 elements of change in government

In his speech, Pimentel also outlined what he called the 11 essential elements of the program of government for change, “that will hopefully lay the basis for the development and progress of our country and people.”

Foremost in the priorities mentioned by Pimentel is the all-out search for peace in the country and the adoption of a federal system of government.

He said the Senate would also support the administration’s all-out war against crime, drugs and corruption, reform the taxation system and make it just and truly progressive.

There would also be a war on wasteful spending in the government and necessary reforms in the budget would be introduced for this purpose.

“We call for sustainable and inclusive economic growth. We will protect the environment. We will deliver quality education and quality health care,” Pimentel said.

“We will fight abuse and the abusive. We will focus on the needs and situation of the helpless and impoverished members of Philippine society, especially the sick, the elderly and the children because they need the help of government more than the others,” he added.

‘Pimentel has the right ideology’

Sotto, who nominated Pimentel as Senate president, said that the latter “possesses the right ideology for our times with proven courage and recognized confidence.”

“Like the knights of olden times, I humbly gave way to a young and valiant warrior. I trust him to lead the chamber and partner with the executive department to achieve peace and progress for the Filipino in our lifetime and beyond,” he added. – With Paolo Romero