MANILA, Philippines — The change in Senate leadership is not likely to derail the administration’s legislative agenda, President Marcos said yesterday.
With 15 votes, Sen. Vicente Sotto III on Monday replaced Francis Escudero as Senate president.
“That remains to be seen. But I do not actually see any problem in terms of the legislative agenda that the executive and the legislature have agreed to undertake for the next Congress,” the President said at a press conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“And if Senator Sotto is now the SP again, then I do not see that it will change very much from what our agenda – that we had agreed upon when Senator Chiz was SP,” he said.
Marcos, who served as senator from 2010 to 2016, stressed that the reorganization was an internal matter among the senators.
“The Senate knows how to organize itself, the Senate also knows how to do the work,” he said.
Marcos said reports about the looming change in the Senate presidency had been going on for at least a month.
“I mean, you have all been reporting on this and you know that there’s a real movement that has been going on for the last, at least a month already – that would bring us to this change of leadership,” the Chief Executive said.
The last meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) was on May 29.
LEDAC serves as a consultative and advisory body to the President on programs and policies that require legislative action.
Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano will be leading the Duterte-allied senators of the chamber in the new minority bloc.
Cayetano’s election was announced during the Senate’s regular session yesterday, where it was also announced that Escudero and Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva would be part of the minority.
Joining them are Rodante Marcoleta, Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go, Robinhood Padilla and Imee Marcos.
Marcoleta, who is on his way out as Blue Ribbon committee chair, and Villanueva were appointed deputy minority leaders.
Also elected yesterday were new deputy majority leaders Risa Hontiveros and JV Ejercito. Comprising the majority are Francis Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Loren Legarda, Sherwin Gatchalian, Lito Lapid, Pia Cayetano, Erwin and Raffy Tulfo; Mark and Camille Villar.
With the assumption of a new majority – led by Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson and Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri – some committee chairmanships have been redistributed.
While Sotto had already announced Lacson’s ascencion to the Blue Ribbon committee Monday night, his appointment to replace Marcoleta was made official during the afternoon session yesterday.
Legarda, meanwhile, has been elected to chair the committees on national defense, on accounts and on higher, technical and vocational education, replacing Estrada and Alan Cayetano, respectively.
Ejercito will replace Dela Rosa as chair of the public order committee, Raffy Tulfo will replace Marcos as chair of the labor committee and Hontiveros will replace Go as health committee chair.
It is still unclear whether all committee chairmanships would be reshuffled, but Zubiri said the remaining committees that require new chairpersons would be decided tomorrow.
At the House of Representatives, it will be status quo under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez.
The STAR learned from highly reliable sources over the weekend that House secretary general Reggie Velasco had been checking loyalties of congressmen, as speculations swirl that lone Bacolod Rep. Albee Benitez would be taking the helm at the lower chamber.
There was no party caucus even among political parties under the supermajority coalition, where House members usually discuss alliances, including a change in leadership.
Two political parties alone – Romualdez’s Lakas-CMD and the National Unity Party – would comprise nearly half of the total House membership. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Delon Porcalla