Incoming Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said on Saturday, July 16 that his small Senate minority bloc would not be obstructionists, but a ‘’constructive minority.’’
During a DWIZ radio interview, Pimentel said bills to be tackled by the Senate would have go through the standards of the minority group.
These, according to Pimentel, are covered by the following questions: "Are the rules of the Senate followed?," "Are the bills constitutionally appropriate?," "Are they timely?," and "Do they benefit the people?"
Pimentel, a former Senate President and a bar topnotcher, said he would try ‘’to reach out’’ to the Cayetano siblings - Senators Alan Peter and Pia - and talk to them in the hope of forming a four-member Senate minority bloc.
During the 2016 vice presidential race, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano openly criticized the alleged excesses of the martial administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and alleged hidden wealth of the Marcos family.
Senator Alan Cayetano now has to face Marcos's son, President Ferdinand ‘’Bongbong’’ R. Marcos Jr., moving forward.
Bills to be supported by the Marcos administration are expected to pass through the Cayetano wringer in the upper chamber.
Pimentel said the Cayetano siblings are lawyers who are very articulate in their advocacies.
Pimentel and Senator Risa Hontiveros are the only ‘’opposition senators’’ so far.
The actual membership of the Senate minority bloc will be known on July 25, when sessions in the 19th Congress officially start.
There are 24 senators in the Senate.