Pimentel to head four Senate committees

By Camille A. Aguinaldo
THREE senate committee chairmanships await Senator Aquilino L. Pimentel III following his resignation as the Senate’s leader, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said on Thursday.
Mr. Sotto said at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum that he would like his predecessor to head the Senate committee on ethics.
“I was thinking that he would take over that particular committee….He was former senate president. His work ethics is impeccable,” he Mr. Sotto said.
Three complaints remained in the committee on ethics: Senator Richard J. Gordon versus Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV; Senator Trillanes versus Senator Gordon; and former Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II versus Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel.
After stepping down last Monday, Mr. Pimentel was also elected chairman of the Senate committee on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship, a panel headed by Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri before he assumed Mr. Sotto’s previous post as Senate Majority Leader.
Mr. Sotto also said Mr. Pimentel may head a third Senate panel but added that his colleagues were still deciding between two committees.
“There are two other committees that we are eyeing so I’d rather not divulge these two committees until we already talk to the current chairmen of these committees,” he said.
Asked if the other committee being considered was on local government, the Senate leader confirmed that Mr. Pimentel expressed interest in the panel.
“Well, Senator Pimentel is interested in that committee. But I think Senator (Juan Edgardo M.) Angara (chair of the Senate committee on local government) has a lot of work being done currently so I may not be able to do what at the soonest time,” he said.
Aside from the said committee chairmanships, the former Senate leader was also chosen to head the Senate panel of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System last Monday. He also replaced Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquiao as member of the Commission on Appointments (CA) last Wednesday.