Senate opens first session of 18th Congress

MANILA — The Senate formally opened its first regular session under the 18th Congress on Monday.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III banged the gavel at exactly 10 a.m. to signal the start of the session.

All 22 senators were present except for Senator Manny Pacquiao, who is still in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States following his victorious boxing match against Keith Thurman, and Senator Leila de Lima, who is being detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center over drug charges.

Present during the first day of session were current senators Ralph Recto, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Franklin Drilon, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, Joel Villanueva, as well as newly-elected senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Lito Lapid, Imee Marcos, Aquilino Pimentel III, Grace Poe, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Francis Tolentino, Cynthia Villar , and Christopher “Bong” Go.

The new senators formally took their oath as the Senate opened its session.

The senators also reelected Sotto as their President via viva voce (voice vote) with only Drilon, Pangilinan, and Hontiveros casting their abstention for the election of the chamber’s leader.

The Senate and the House of Representatives will hold a joint session at 4 p.m. Monday at the Batasang Pambansa to hear President Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA).