Koko Pimentel: I’ll work with Alan Cayetano; he can’t pick panel

EVEN IF he has the backing of most of his colleagues to be the next Senate President, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said he still planned to reach out to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to get him to join the majority in the 17th Congress.

Pimentel said he agreed with colleagues who suggested that he and Cayetano join forces instead of fighting for the Senate presidency.

Cayetano was the running mate of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, while  Pimentel is the president of PDP-Laban, Duterte’s political party.

“We are stronger together,” Pimentel said in a recent interview, adding he hoped to schedule a meeting with Cayetano soon.

However, he said, Cayetano could no longer have any committee he wanted. Cayetano would have to settle for committees that had not yet been assigned to other senators.

“I cannot undo what has already been agreed upon,” he said.

Among those agreements are that Sen. Franklin Drilon would be the Senate president pro-tempore; Sen. Vicente Sotto III would be majority leader; Sen. Panfilo Lacson would chair the public order and dangerous drugs committee, and Sen. Leila de Lima would head the justice committee.

Cayetano earlier expressed misgivings about the assignments to Lacson and De Lima.

Pimentel said he was waiting for the right time to schedule a meeting with Cayetano. He noted that Cayetano had been spending most of his time in Davao City where Duterte is based or has been out of the country.

Earlier, Sen. JV Ejercito and Senator-elect Miguel Zubiri, who are identified with Cayetano, said they hoped Cayetano and Pimentel would team up so they would not be torn between the two.

Ejercito had said he wanted to join the majority because he supported Duterte’s plans, while Zubiri has also called himself a Duterte ally.

Pimentel has shown Duterte a draft resolution signed by 14 senators backing him as Senate president and expressing support for the plans and programs of the incoming administration.