Nagpaabot ng pagbati ang Malacañang sa paghirang kina Sen. Aquilino Pimentel bilang bagong halal na Senate President at Davao City Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez bilang House Speaker ng 17th Congress.
Sinabi ni Communications Secretary Martin Andanar na napapanahon na ang tatlong pinakamataas na opisyal ng gobyerno ay pawang nagmula sa Mindanao.
“We look forward to a pro-active cooperation between the executive and legislative branches. We hope that this would expeditiously address issues and concerns regarding President Rodrigo Duterte’s priority legislative measures for the Filipino people, particularly the reinstatement of death penalty to fight drugs and heinous crimes, amendments to the Constitution to pave the way for federalism, and reforms to achieve his 10-point economic agenda,” pahayag ni Andanar.