Manila, Philippines – Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III was elected to be the new Senate President after obtaining 20 votes at the opening session of the 17th Congress on Monday. Pimentel has secured the majority votes composed of incumbent Sens. Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda, Bam Aquino, Sonny Angara, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Franklin Drilon, Cynthia Villar, Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II and Grace Poe as well as returning Sens. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Richard “Dick” Gordon and Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. Neophyte Sens. Joel Villanueva, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao and Leila De Lima picked Pimentel to be a president of the senate congress.
Sen. Sotto and Sen. Zubiri nominated Pimentel to be a Senate President. Pimentel sought to the Senate presidency after leading the campaign of his Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party-mate President Rodrigo Duterte that won over Ralf Recto that was nominated by Escudero and Trillanes. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was absent during the session who earlier expressed his intention of leading the Senate but suddenly withdrew.
