Koko: Risa agreed to elect me as Senate minority chief if others will not join bloc

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Thursday disclosed that Senator Risa Hontiveros agreed to vote for him as the next Senate minority leader if other senators won't join the bloc.

"Well, let's just play with this scenario if ever it will only be the two of us, Senator Risa and myself, then we have agreed that she will nominate me or she will vote for me as minority leader," Pimentel said in a CNN interview when asked about the matter.

Asked to respond to Pimentel's remarks, Hontiveros said she would be honored to nominate the former as the next minority chief but she did not discount the possibility of her taking the post.

"I would be honored to nominate him as minority leader, or to serve as minority leader myself if that’s what we finally decide. For now, we're working closely together first on forming the minority," Hontiveros said in a text message.

Like what Hontiveros had explained, Pimentel said there is no certainty yet on who will lead the minority bloc, explaining that this is the last group that will be organized in the Senate.

"You can only know the membership or the composition of that minority group after the Senate president has been elected... It's only after that vote that we will look around and find out who these people are and then we have now to meet [to agree] who is our minority leader," Pimentel said.

Upon the opening of each Congress, senators will elect their Senate president. Those who did not take part in the election process and those who did not vote for the elected Senate chief will be part of the minority bloc.

Once the minority bloc is formed, the members of the group would have to elect their minority leader.

In the same interview, Pimentel expressed optimism on the possibility of Senator Pia Cayetano and Senators-elect Alan Peter Cayetano and Francis Escudero joining the minority bloc in the 19th Congress.

"Let us say that I want to be optimistic that the minority can still consist of the following. So we have Senator Risa Hontiveros, myself, probably the two Cayetanos, Pia and Alan, and really being super optimistic, we may even have Chiz Escudero. So five out of 24. That is the maximum I think that we can get," Pimentel said.

So far, Escudero and the Cayetano siblings have yet to declare whether they will join the minority or the majority or the minority bloc in the 19th Congress.

In an interview during his proclamation last May 18, Alan Peter Cayetano said he has yet to decide whether he will join the majority or minority bloc in the Senate.

Meanwhile, his sister, Pia, has yet to issue a statement on the matter.

However, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, in a recent interview, pointed out that Pia, an incumbent senator, giving the chairmanship of the Senate committee on ways and means to re-elected Senator Sherwin Gatchalian in the 19th Congress is an "indication" that she will join the minority.

By tradition, members of the majority keep their chairmanship of major committees, such as the ways and means panel, following the principle of the equity of the incumbent. — RSJ, GMA News