The 15th Congress opened today electing Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino as senate president and Quezon City (4th district) Rep. Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of the Liberal Party as speaker of the House of Representatives.
Enrile, dubbed as “unity” senate president, obtained 17 out of 20 votes of senators belonging to Liberal and Nacionalista Parties, including Sen. Manuel Villar, who ran for president in the last May elections and was investigated by the 14th Senate under Enrile for alleged overpricing on the C-5 road extension project.
Enrile defeated Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano of the NP who automatically becomes the Senate minority leader. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was voted Senate President pro tempore . Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III was majority floor leader and chairman of the Senate committee on rules.
Belmonte got 227 votes over Albay Rep. Edzel Lagman (Lakas-Lampi-CMD) who got only 29 votes. Lagman will share the position of House minority leader with Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez.