Loren Legarda takes over powerful Senate committee on finance

August 3, 2015

The Senate on Monday picked Senator Loren Legarda to take on the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Finance vacated by Senator Francis Escudero last week.

“Senator Loren Legarda has been elected as chairman of the Finance Committee,” Senate President Franklin Drilon told reporters after their caucus.

With this, he said they expect the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to brief the committee on the 2016 national budget by August 17.

“So that’s the start of the budget process. We are committed to pass the budget by the end of session in December. We can have the budget in place by 2016,” he said.

Asked if they chose Legarda because she is not a reelectionist, Drilon said she is “one of the best vice-chairs of the Finance Committee.”

“She has sufficient exposure, so we can hit the ground running with Sen. Loren,” he said.

Aside from Legarda, the other vice-chairmen of the finance committee are Senators Ralph Recto, Sergio Osmeña III, and Teofisto Guingona III.

Legarda was formally nominated and elected to the committee during the session.

Because of her new responsibility, Legarda resigned as the chairman of the committee on environment. Escudero, meanwhile, replace Legarda in the said panel.

Escudero quit the chairmanship of the finance committee on July 28 out of delicadeza noting that he is seriously thinking about running for a higher post in 2016.

“Seryoso kong pinag-iisipan pero wala pa akong pasya,” he said, adding that he does not want the 2016 budget to be affected by political issues.

Source: GMA Network