THE Senate on Wednesday night adopted a resolution electing Senate minority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri as Senate president pro tempore effective June 29 until the 19th Congress opens on July 25.
The resolution was introduced by Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon before the Senate adjourned sine die, saying there will be “no officer of the Senate will be in board” as Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto will no longer be senators by June 30.
As such, Drilon said, the administrative affairs of the Senate will be hampered without an official running it.
Drilon said: “As a continuing institution, it is imperative that the Senate have a president or a president pro tempore between June 30, 2022 and the organization of the Senate in the 19th Congress on July 25, 2022 so that the powers and duties of the chief executive of the Senate… may be fully discharged without interruption.”
Zubiri said his new post will be temporary to allow the Senate to continue conducting its business, including the signing of checks for the salaries of employees.
“So, it is really an officer-in-charge post and we will subject ourselves again to an election once we come back on the last Monday of July,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri is the incoming Senate president of the 19th Congress.
Before he was elected Senate president pro tempore, Zubiri sponsored Senate resolutions commending their “graduating” and exiting colleagues, including Sotto, Recto, Drilon and Senators Leila De Lima, Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Emmanuel Pacquiao, and Francis Pangilinan for their invaluable and exemplary contributions during the 18th Congress, which was adopted by the chamber.
