Sen. Mark Villar has been elected chairman of the Senate committee on finance, replacing Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
This new assignment was made in the Senate plenary upon a motion of acting Majority Leader Joel Villanueva before the session was adjourned on Tuesday.
Sought for comment on his replacement, Gatchalian expressed confidence that Villar could run the panel well, citing the latter’s family background and his experience as former head of Department of Public Works and Highways.
Article continues after this advertisement
“The finance committee is a position of trust,” he said in an interview. “When I handled it for one year, I saw the power of the finance committee. For me, it is one of the most powerful — if not the most powerful — committees because you handle the country’s entire budget.”
Gatchalian was the fifth minority senator who lost a committee leadership after voting last May 11,2026 for Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who lost the Senate presidency to Alan Peter Cayetano.
On Monday, four Sotto allies, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, and siblings Erwin and Raffy Tulfo were also stripped of their committee assignments.
Hontiveros was removed as head of the committee on health and replaced by Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go while Aquino’s chairmanship of the basic committee panel was given to Sen. Loren Legarda.
Raffy Tulfo, on the other hand, was replaced as Senate committee on public services chairman by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, while his brother, Erwin, lost his chairmanship of the committee on games and amusement to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.