Senate assigns new committee chairmanships

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Senate on Monday, May 18, appointed new committee chairpersons during a plenary session under the leadership of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

The chairpersons and their committees are:

Loren Legarda 

– retained, Committee on Culture and the Arts

– Committee on Basic Education

Pia Cayetano

– retained, Committee on Ways and Means

– retained, Committee on Energy

– Committee on SDG, Innovation, and Futures Thinking  

Bong Go 

– retained, Committee on Sports

– Committee on Health and Demography 

Joel Villanueva 

– Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education

Jinggoy Estrada 

– Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation 

– Committee on Games and Amusement

Rodante Marcoleta 

– Committee on Public Services

Robin Padilla

– retained, Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs

– Committee on Public Information and Mass Media

Right after the leadership change on May 11, some senators pushed for clarity on whether they could keep convening hearings and sponsoring bills they had been shepherding before the leadership shuffle. 

As the positions were all declared vacant, bills and readings on bills had been put on hold.

With new and retained chairpersons, Cayetano urged lawmakers to coordinate with outgoing committee chairpersons on pending sponsorship of bills before the transition.