Pimentel: I’m no longer Senate president; let’s get used to it

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (Photo by JOSEPH VIDAL / Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimintel III said on Saturday that people should get used to him being no longer the Senate president, a post now occupied by Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

“I’m now just a senator,” he said in Filipino in an interview over AM radio station DWIZ. “Let’s get used to that.”

He said was looking forward to work with other lawmakers in pushing reforms – this time, as chair of different committees.

“I should dedicate my time on my chairmanships. So I’ll still be busy,” Pimentel said.

According to Pimentel, he currently heads the Committee on Trade, Industry, and Entrepreneurship and the Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System.

He also said that he would prefer to handle the legislative committee and the ethics committee, if Sotto would ask him to.

“If SP [Senate President] Sotto would say that nobody would like to head those committees, I’m ready to take on the responsibility,” he said. “The work load in the Senate should be distributed. So we need to cooperate.”

The senator also said that he was ready to handle the local government committee. However, he expressed some reservation, as the committee is currently headed by Sen. Sonny Angara.

“If Senator Angara wants to unload that on me, I will accept,” Pimentel said. “But he already has a lot of plans lined up for that committee, I don’t want to mess things up.” /atm