Zubiri elected majority leader
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:49:00 11/18/2008
Filed Under: Politics, Congress, Impeachment
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 3) The Senate has started its reorganization, with Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri being elected majority floor leader and concurrent chairman of the committee on rules.
Senator Richard Gordon nominated Zubiri who got nine votes at the start of the Senate session Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada was reinstated as Senate pro-tempore after there were no objections to his nomination by Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas.
The Senate has also retained the position of Sergeant-at-Arms Jose Balajadia and Emma Reyes as secretary of the chamber.
It then approved a resolution informing the President of the Philippines that the Senate has been reorganized.
Earlier on Tuesday, Zubiri said senators gave Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile a “vote of confidence” to reorganize the Senate and its committees.
Several senators had expressed their preference for various organizations, said Zubiri.
Zubiri said Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson Lacson was sure to get the committee on accounts.
Lacson, he said, would also like to get the ethics committee, which was handling the case filed against ousted Senate President Manny Villar over the C-5 road project controversy.
The committee is headed by Senator Pia Cayetano.
It was Lacson who linked Villar to the alleged irregularity in the double appropriation for the construction of the road project in Parañaque City.
Aside from the ethics committee, Zubiri said Lacson was also applying for the chairmanship of the ways and means committee now headed by Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero.
Meanwhile, Gordon is eyeing the powerful blue ribbon committee, formerly chaired by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Zubiri said.
Gordon is presently chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments.
Senators Edgardo Angara, Loren Legarda, and Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal are eyeing the finance, agriculture, and environment committees respectively while Senators Roxas and Rodolfo Biazon are seeking the chairmanships of the committees on education, and housing.
There are over 30 standing committees in the Senate.
During a meeting of the majority bloc Monday night, Zubiri said Enrile requested that he be given full authority to decide on the chairmanships but asked the members to submit their preferences.
“And with that, he [Enrile] was asking for the authority to allow him to designate the committee chairmanships to avoid grumblings and jealousy in our group,” Zubiri quoted Enrile as saying.
“So I think the Senate President is in the right direction by telling the majority members of the Senate to be patient with him, to give him the powers to choose one major committee, one minority committee to each and every senator and we gave him that vote of confidence so. So may vote of confidence ho sya sa planong ito [he has our vote of confidence in this plan],” he said.
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