Pangilinan tells Osmeña: I’m acting education committee chief

Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan clarified yesterday he has been working as acting chairman of the Senate education committee.

He made the clarification in the wake of the claim of colleague John Henry Osmeña that some committees, including the education panel, have not been functioning.

Osmeña aired the accusation following the refusal of Sen. Joker Arroyo, Blue Ribbon Committee chairman, to look into reports that President Arroyo’s lawyers had tried to extort $70 million from Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco).

Pangilinan said since March, when he was designated acting education committee head, he has been conducting public hearings on various bills pending with his panel.

He said the committee is now ready with its reports.

"If despite all these, the committee is still considered as ‘non-functional,’ I do not know how they would define ‘functional.’ I dare say that the committee on education, at least for this month, has exceeded the performance of other Senate committees," he said.

He urged Osmeña to "check the record first before hurling unfounded accusations that malign not just the reputation of the committee but of the Senate as a whole."

"I am aware that there is so much to be done, that is why we are working doubly hard to get things done at the committee," Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan took over the education panel in March from Sen. Rene Cayetano, who has been sick and undergoing treatment for a liver ailment in the United States.

According to Osmeña, besides the education committee, the other committees that have not been working are the energy committee, also chaired by Cayetano, and the committee on public works, headed by Sen. Ramon Revilla, who also had to go to the US for medical care. – Jess Diaz