Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 20) — Senators are set to have “exhaustive consultations” for the new chairperson of the chamber’s Blue Ribbon committee after Sen. Francis Tolentino left the post, Senate President Migz Zubiri said Wednesday.
“Sen. Tolentino has left big shoes to fill, but I am sure we can find a suitable replacement in our rolls of brilliant lawyers in the chamber,” Zubiri added.
Tolentino said he was fulfilling an earlier agreement to serve as the chairperson for only a year and six months.
In a media forum earlier in the day, Tolentino said it is a “tradition” in the Senate that a lawyer takes charge of the Blue Ribbon committee, which is tasked to investigate alleged wrongdoings of public officials.
When asked by reporters about Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who is a lawyer, as his possible successor, Tolentino said he has no issue with Cayetano.
“He’s capable, he’s highly qualified to chair, so walang issue, wala akong nakikitang issue (I don’t see any issue),” Tolentino said of Cayetano
When the Marcos administration started in 2022, Cayetano said he wanted to become a “fiscalizer” in the 19th Congress and that he could do that by becoming the panel’s chairperson.
Tolentino, however, said it is not for him to give the post and that it will be a collective decision of the Senate.
“I’m more than willing to support anybody who’s going to be elected,” he said.
