As “the first female chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in its 106 years of existence,” Senator Pia Cayetano has added another feather to her cap — one that already held the distinction of being “the youngest woman elected senator in Philippine history at the age of 38.”

Cayetano has been a senator from the beginning of her political career. She held the position from 2004 to 2016, running for office after the death of her father, Senator Rene Cayetano. In 2019, she was back in the Senate after a stint as representative of Taguig’s second district from 2016 to 2019.

Her latest post gives her a powerful seat, one that is said to be as sought after as the Senate presidency.

We don’t doubt the senator’s toughness — for this is what she will have to be, among other things, as the blue ribbon panel is tasked with investigating “alleged wrongdoings of the government, its officials and attached agencies.”

The task is daunting, to be sure, as accountability is often what is lacking in most controversies that pockmark the Philippine political landscape. However, as a lawyer in a family of lawyers, Senator Cayetano should have no difficulty investigating issues “in aid of legislation.”

If we are to predict what a Blue Ribbon Committee under her leadership would be like, based on her sterling career in politics, then we might venture to say that it would surely result in landmark legislative improvements.

What her priorities will be remains a question for now, however. How will she fare leading investigations into alleged scams and scandals, many of which tend to escalate into verbal tussles and very red faces?

Senator Pia presents quite a sympathetic persona — soft, yet firm and sensible — in the public service show she cohosts with her brother, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, and Boy Abunda. She is able to lead discussions to elicit both confidence and action, to draw from emotions and lead the talk back to pragmatic levels.

The known advocate for health and women’s rights is not quite low-key in an arena populated by men.

Highly intelligent and obviously not a woman to mess with, the senator from Taguig was born in the United States and educated at the University of the Philippines. She is a mom with two daughters and is foster parent to a son. She has also lost a son, Gabriel, in whose memory she put up a foundation. As a young woman, she engaged in sports like volleyball and was part of a team that won in competition.

Senator Pia is quite comfortable before the camera — she has co-hosted shows other than her current one, and she has written for parenting magazines. A communicator and, moreover, a doer, she can do so much to bring back confidence in the Senate committee that people have come to perceive as a “political circus,” to use the words of its former chairman, Senator Francis Tolentino.

The committee which should have “a degree of independence from political influence or other authority” had been doubted following certain investigations, and very often derided for its “unending hearings” that some people thought led nowhere.

While it must be reiterated that the committee does not move to incarcerate but to recommend laws, there is always that expectation of justice and fairness from the public — for it to be a space for reasonable discussion and the pursuit of truth, not a venue to crucify people assumed guilty before they are even tried.

How will Pia Cayetano, the first female chairman, fare?