Pia Cayetano named Senate blue ribbon chair

SEN. Pia Cayetano was elected yesterday as the new chairperson of the Committee on the Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations, or the blue ribbon committee, after Sen. Francis Tolentino officially tendered his resignation as committee chairperson.

Cayetano is the first female chairperson of the committee in the Senate’s 106 years of existence, said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.

At the resumption of the Senate’s regular session, Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva announced that Tolentino has submitted his resignation as committee head, which formally made the position vacant.

No senator opposed the nomination of Cayetano. The other members of the committee will be named in the coming days, Villanueva said.

Cayetano, who is a lawyer, is the sister of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. She is also the chairperson of the Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation and Futures Thinking.

Last month, Tolentino announced that he will relinquish the committee chairmanship and his membership to the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) effective December 31, 2023 “in fulfillment of a sacred commitment” with the Senate leadership to serve the posts for a “concise term of one and a half years.”

“The decision is rooted in a deep-seated belief that public office demands fidelity to pledges made. Fulfilling a commitment is based on my strong belief that to serve in a short period of time is a sacred duty to serve the country which has to be honored. It is my intention to honor an agreement,” Tolentino said then in a mix of Filipino and English.

He said that when he was named blue ribbon committee chairman and a member of the CA when the 19th Congress opened on June 2022, he supposedly entered into an agreement with the Senate leadership that he will serve only for one and a half years, or until December 31, 2023.

He also said that position because “I want to help the Senate leadership.”

Under Tolentino’s stewardship, the blue ribbon committee conducted investigations on a number of controversial issues, including the sugar importation deal, which led to the resignation of Vic Rodriguez as executive secretary and the removal of several Sugar