14 sign draft resolution electing Sotto Senate chief

Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III’s fate has been sealed with a draft resolution signed by 14 or majority out of 23 senators, electing Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III as the next Senate leader.

The 15th senator is expected to sign the resolution either on Friday or Saturday, Senate sources said.

The resolution is titled “Expressing the sense of the Senate to reorganize its leadership and electing Senator Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III as new Senate President.”

“By a majority of all the senators, Sen. Vicente C. Sotto III is hereby elected as the new Senate President to discharge the duties and powers granted to him by the rules of the Senate,” read the resolution.

“It is hereby resolved by a majority vote of all the senators, to express its sense to reorganize its leadership, and hereby electing Senator Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III as the new Senate President,” it added.

The 14 senators who signed the resolution are Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senators Sonny Angara, Loren Legarda, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Francis Escudero, Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan II, Panfilo Lacson, Manny Pacquiao, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Nancy Binay.

Only three senators in the majority bloc — Pimentel, Sotto and Grace Poe—did not sign the resolution, but a reliable source said Poe would join the 14 signatories “very soon.” — MAILA AGER