Koko will be next Senate President —Drilon

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III will be the next Senate President, outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon announced Wednesday.

Drilon said the senators met Tuesday evening and agreed to support Pimentel as their next leader. Pimentel is president of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) which fielded President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

"I would like to announce that last night the major political parties in the Senate have agreed to have an aliiance—the Liberal Party and its allied parties, including Akbayan, LDP, NPC, and other allied political groups," he said during a news forum in Manila.

He said they have 16 to 17 senators with them adding that he led one group while the other group was led by Senator Vicente Sotto III.

"We have the support of 16 or 17 senators. Last night we met and had that agreement. The president of the incoming Senate will be Aquilino Pimentel. I will be the Senate Pro-Tempore and Sotto will be the majority leader," he said.

Drilon said they support the legislative agenda of Duterte but they will still maintain the independence of the Senate. 

"We will maintain the independence of the Senate. At the same time, we will support in general the legislative agenda of President Duterte," he said.

He said they are still discussing the committee chairmanships.

Sought for his comment, Pimentel just said in a text message: “Yes, that’s the agreement.”

In a separate text message to GMA News Online, Sotto confirmed Drilon's announcement.

"That's the agreement. We are just finalizing," he said.

Pimentel's father and namesake Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. also sat as Senate president from November 2000 to June 2001.

The elder Pimentel was senator from 1987 to 1992 and 1998 to 2010.

Unusual setup

Drilon described the setup of the next Senate to be unusual.

"As you noticed, Koko is the only PDP-Laban senator and yet he is the Senate President. This is an unusual setup. In recent memory, I do not recall a similar setup," he said.

"This is to show that yes we are willing to support in general the legislative agenda of this administration," he added.

He, however, clarified that it does not mean that the Senate bowed down.

"We did not bow down to anything. We decided on him (Pimentel). He is very qualified. We want to show support to this administration," he reiterated.

The news forum is ongoing as of posting time.

GMA News Online is seeking a reaction from another contender to the position, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. —KG/ALG/RSJ, GMA News