Returning Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is still contemplating joining either the supermajority bloc or minority bloc in the upcoming 19th Congress but has acceded to the majority’s choice of Sen. Francis Tolentino to chair the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.
Cayetano said Sunday he fully supports Tolentino’s chairmanship of the high-profile Blue Ribbon.
“I pray that he will do all he can to make this government truly accountable to the people,” he said.
Earlier, Cayetano said he would be glad to join the minority in case the Blue Ribbon, formally known as Senate Committee for Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations, will not be given to him.
The former has been very vocal about his desire to be the chairperson of the Blue Ribbon, insisting he always wants to be a “fiscalizer.”
The post was initially offered by incoming Senate President Migz Zubiri to Tolentino, also a lawyer like Cayetano, who accepted the chairmanship.
In choosing which bloc to join in the Upper Chamber, Cayetano assured that he will not base his decision on political partisanship.
“That is precisely why I ran as an independent. Public service is more than that,” noted Cayetano who served as Blue Ribbon committee chairman in the past Congress.
“I will join the group that will uphold what is right for the Filipino people and the country. After all, what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong,” he said.
Cayetano said he will support what is right and will defend it.
“What is wrong should be fought,” he further stated.
Cayetano said his sister, Senator Pia Cayetano, will join him since they share the same advocacies.
Sen. Pia has yet to announce if she will join the supermajority bloc or the minority bloc.
The minority bloc is currently composed of Senators Risa Hontiveros and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
If the Cayetano siblings would join the minority, there will be four opposition senators in the new Congress.
Cayetano has no committee yet although her sister will chair the Sustainable Development Goals, Innovations, and Futures Thinking, according to Zubiri. Macon Ramos-Araneta
