Senator Robinhood Padilla was designated vice chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education as Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano pressed ahead Tuesday with the reorganization of the upper chamber.
Senators Bong Go, Jinggoy Estrada, Pia Cayetano, Mark Villar, Imee Marcos, Joel Villanueva, and Rodante Marcoleta were named majority members of the same panel.
Padilla also figures into other committee assignments. He was placed on the majority membership of the Committee on Culture and the Arts alongside Senators Pia Cayetano, Villanueva, Marcoleta, and Marcos, and was similarly assigned to the Committee on Higher Technical Vocational Education, where Senator Loren Legarda holds the vice chairperson post.
On the Committee on Public Order, Padilla again appears among the majority members, with Senators Go, Estrada, and Marcoleta designated as vice chairpersons of that panel.
Beyond committee work, the Majority bloc is preparing to extend chairmanship offers to minority members and is moving toward reconstituting the Commission on Appointments.
Senator Lito Lapid separately confirmed he would remain with the Senate Minority and backed Senator Miguel Zubiri’s motion to remove from the record a video that accompanied Senator Imee Marcos’ speech alleging a plot to revise the 1987 constitution.
Cayetano also announced plans for an all-member caucus to set the Senate’s schedule, to be followed by a majority caucus. He gave Senator Erwin Tulfo assurance that journalists would continue to have unrestricted access to the Senate.
On the May 13 shooting incident, Cayetano said the chamber has been engaging with agencies seeking information. “So, we continue to receive subpoenas or requests for information from different agencies and departments. We have, from the start, fully cooperated,” he said.
