New senate leadership faces old problems

Script below:

JUAN EDGARDO ANGARA, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: Kapag sinabi mong “Big Man ng Senado” iisang pangalan lamang ang pumapasok sa isipan ng ating mga kababayan. (When you say “Big Man of the Senate, only one name comes to mind.)

It’s the big day for the big man of the Senate and its 6 newest members.
The Senate opens the 16th Congress, ushering in a new leadership with neophyte senators playing a key role.
After taking their oath as one of so-called 24 independent republics, newcomers Sonny Angara and Grace Poe nominate their campaign manager Senator Franklin Drilon as the new Senate President.
Senators Nancy Binay and JV Ejercito of the United Nationalist Alliance also take the floor for their leader.

NANCY BINAY, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: Mr. President, I am very honored to nominate Senator Juan Ponce Enrile for Senate President.

With an overwhelming 17-6 vote, the staunch Aquino ally wins handily against Enrile, who automatically becomes Minority Leader. 
Other members of the coalition of the ruling Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party secure key posts, with the LP’s Ralph Recto becoming Senate President Pro-Tempore and the NP’s Alan Peter Cayetano as Majority Leader. 
Drilon hails the historic moment, with a Senate bringing together the most number of young and female members.
He urges his colleagues to pass bills for inclusive growth.
But a time when the Senate is under question, there are issues Drilon cannot ignore.

FRANKLIN DRILON, PHILIPPINE SENATE PRESIDENT: We recognize that the events in the past months have affected the perception of the people on the Senate. The institution has been affected. It thus becomes our individual and collective obligation to bring back the confidence of the people into this vital institution of democracy.

Recto says the Drilon administration will change the way the Senate uses public money.

RALPH RECTO, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: Mas mahalaga ang usapin na paano gastusin ng tama ang pondo ng Senado, paano mabawasan ang pondo, irationalize ang oversight committees. Ang mga bagay na ito laging mahirap sa umpisa. (The more important issue is how to appropriately spend Senate funds, how to decrease the funds, rationalize the oversigt committees. All of these are very hard to do in the beginning.)

Binay and Senators Jinggoy Estrada vow to support the initiative as part of a constructive minority.
But for Sen Tito Sotto, the majority cannot always expect their cooperation.

TITO SOTTO, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: Depende rin ano ang trato sa minority. You reap what you sow. It will be a different Congress as far as Senate is concerned. Mas marami ang minority ngayon kaysa sa dating minority. Mas maganda ang fiscalization ng Senado. (It will depend on how the minority is treated. There are more minority members now compared to the previous congress.)

In the coming days, senators will finalize committee chairmanships and meet on Drilon’s proposed reforms.

AYEE MACARAIG, REPORTING: Fund controversy, pork barrel scam. The new Senate leadership plans to redeem the honor of the institution after these scandals. But will they carry through with the reforms? That’s the challenge for a chamber with new faces but old problems. Ayee Macaraig, Rappler.

– Rappler.com