Senator Gringo Honasan’s best buddies in the Senate would surely miss him and his “Jurassic” cell phone when he moves to head the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Honasan confirmed on Friday that he already accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s offer to lead the DICT.
“With his impending transfer to the DICT, I will miss Sen Gringo in the Senate for many reasons including being my perennial quorum buddy in all my committee hearings and vice versa,” Senator Panfilo Lacson wrote on Twitter.
“By now, I assume that he has ‘ditched’ and replaced his Jurassic cell phone unit,” Lacson said.
Lacson disclosed that the post was offered to Honasan as early as six months ago when the latter sought his and Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto’s advice.
“The very first advice SP Sotto and I gave him when he first confided to us the President’s offer was to “ditch” and replace his Jurassic cell phone unit immediately to at least appear ‘techie,’”he said in a text message,
Lacson said Honasan’s appointment was formalized when the three of them met with Duterte in Davao City about two weeks ago.
“He expects to receive his nomination next week so he doesn’t have to resign from the Senate until confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA),” he said.
“Having said that, we wish him all the best in his new job. I will particularly miss him being my perennial and automatic quorum buddy in all my committee hearings and vice versa.”
“I guess, with him out of the Senate, I will have to make do with the other macho(nurin) bloc member, SP Sotto as my automatic quorum buddy,” Lacson added.
Sotto, in a separate text message, said he was happy with Honasan’s decision to accept the post.
“Although we will miss him in the Senate, I know he will be of great value to the executive department,” he said.
The Senate leader was also confident that the CA would “swiftly” confirm Honasan’s appointment.
“Swiftly, after he submits all necessary documents,” Sotto added. /muf