The Philippine Online Chronicles

Newly-proclaimed Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel will be heading the committees on electoral reforms, and on games, amusement, and sports.

The senator, who has joined the Senate majority bloc, also got memberships to the committees on finance, energy, education, labor, defense, as well as the blue ribbon committee.

Pimentel will be taking the chairmanship of the committee on games after it was voluntarily passed on by Senator Lito Lapid. Pimentel said that the country will finally get an Olympic gold under his chairmanship.

Meanwhile, amendments to Senate rules are needed to create the committee on electoral reforms. Matters of electoral reforms are currently under the committee on constitutional amendments, and revision of Codes and Laws, chaired by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

“What happened yesterday is that we thought of giving electoral reforms to Sentor Pimentel because we knew that he liked it but we cannot take away constitutional amendments from Senator Miriam so we agreed to talk to Senator Miriam to inform her that we will be removing electoral reforms from her committee,” Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said.

Sotto said that Santiago agreed with the splitting of committees and the creation of a major committee on electoral reforms to be given to Pimentel.

In his first privilege speech on Monday, Pimentel said, “I am determined to do whatever is needed to advance the cause of freedom, peace, justice, and the development of our country and people who expect no less from me.”

After four years, the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) has proclaimed Pimentel the 12th senator in the 2007 polls, saying that he won by 258,166 votes against previously-declared 12^th placer Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Zubiri earlier resigned while maintaining his innocence of electoral fraud during the 2007 elections.