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 [...]
