Photo Release

‘Getting elected to the Senate did not make a senator’: Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, who gained a moniker as “The Big Man of the Senate,” bids farewell to colleagues in his valedictory speech Wednesday, June 1, 2022, as Congress adjourns sine die on June 3, 2022. Drilon acknowledged his 24 years in the Senate made him “what and who I am now... and it is here in the Senate where I’ve done my best, and perhaps, experienced my worst.” He said the legacy that he wished to leave behind “is written in between lines of the laws that I have authored... I did my share in the passage of measures whose impact would last beyond our lifetime.” The minority leader recalled that he thought he was ready when he joined the Senate in the 10th Congress, being in the executive department – as labor, as justice and executive secretary – for nine years and 25 years of law practice. But he realized that “the Senate was tougher than I expected.” He said: “I learned that getting elected to the Senate did not make me a senator. I had to labor hard to become worthy of the title. I had to earn my place in the house of 24 republics through hard work – late nights and early mornings.” (SENATE PRIB PHOTOS/Screen grab)