Seventeen out of 23 senators present at the opening of the 16th Congress on Monday morning voted for Drilon while his predecessor, Juan Ponce Enrile, became Minority Leader after garnering the second highest number of votes at six.
Senator Ralph Recto was named Senate President Pro Tempore while Senator Alan Peter Cayetano became Majority Leader.
Also elected were Oscar Yabes as Senate Secretary and Jose Balajadia as head of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.
Drilon got the support of Senators Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Aquilino Pimentel III, Antonio Trillanes IV, Pia Cayetano and her brother, Teofisto Guingona III, Lito Lapid, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Sergio Osmeña III, Ramon Revilla, Jr., Recto, Cayetano and Enrile.
Joining the list were neophyte Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Grace Poe, Juan Edgardo Angara, and Cynthia Villar, whose husband Manny Villar took over the Senate leadership from Drilon in 2006.
Enrile was backed by Senators Jinggoy Estrada, JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Vicente Sotto III, Gregorio Honasan II and Drilon.
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago skipped the session because of chronic fatigue that kept her at home for nearly six months.
"We must be a sensitive and responsive Senate. A Senate that feels the pulse of the people. A Senate that is tireless in pursuing reforms to propel our beloved country to greater economic, political and social heights," said Drilon.
"But more important, we should be a critical thinking Senate. Debates are good and we should encourage that because the well-crafted laws are the ones that have been debated lengthily and passionately," he added.
Drilon recommended the following measures to help the country build on the gains in the economy and boost unemployment: rationalization of fiscal incentives, changes to build-operate-transfer law and mining fiscal regime, removal of investment restrictions in laws cited in the Foreign Investment Negative List.
He also pushed for faster resolution of cases, particularly in the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, and passage of a law that will abolish the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) and establish the Bangsamoro region once the final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is signed.
"Now, more than ever, we must transcend political differences and focus on these challenges. We must think of innovations and solutions," said Drilon, who was Senate President in 2000 and from 2001 to 2006.
Estrada, who was Acting Senate President from the time Enrile resigned a day before the end of 15th Congress on June 8, opened the session.
The 12 winners in the senatorial elections last May then took their oaths after the resolution of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaiming their victory was entered into the records. It was followed by the election of officers.
Drilon was the campaign manager of Team PNoy coalition as he denied speculations that the Senate presidency was a reward by Malacañang for the successful bid of filling Aquino allies in the Senate.
"The election of the Senate President is the mandate of the majority of the senators and the fact that nine Team PNoy candidates were elected into office would clearly deliver the message of the people that they want the policies of this administration to be sustained for the next three years," he said in a briefing last week.
Discussions on committee chairmanships are still ongoing although the minority has yet to decide if it would follow Sotto’s suggestion not to head any committee so that they can objectively monitor the affairs of the Senate under the new leadership.
Estrada, however, is keen on keeping the chairmanship of the labor committee. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
Mababasa dito
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