Legarda is now head of Senate finance committee

SENATOR Loren Legarda  is the new head of the Senate finance  committee,  Senate  President   Franklin Drilon said on Monday.

“Senator  Legarda has been elected  as chairman of the finance committee,”  Drilon told reporters after an all-senators  caucus.

Legarda will  take the place of  Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who resigned last week from the committee chairmanship  “out of delicadeza.”

Escudero, meanwhile, will take over the chairmanship of the environment committee vacated by Legarda.

READ: Citing ‘delicadeza,’ Escudero quits as head of 2 finance panels

Drilon said  the  committee  would probably start its  hearings on the proposed  2016  national  budget by  August 17.

“We have committed that we will pass the  budget  before the end of the session in December so that we can have  the  budget in place by 2016,”  he said.