Sen.Joel Villanueva (Screenshot byWilnard Bacelonia) MANILA - Newly elected Senate Majority Floor Leader Joel Villanueva on Monday thanked colleagues Francis Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano for guiding him to where he is now. He recalled that when he was elected as Assistant Majority Leader during the 12th Congress, Cayetano was Deputy Majority Leader and Escudero was Senior Deputy Majority Leader. "I must say that I lavishly benefited from their guidance, especially on how to serve the interests of our people," Villanueva said in his acceptance speech at the opening of the 19th Congress. When Escudero became Minority Leader in the 13th Congress, Villanueva said he served as one of the deputies while Cayetano was Senior Deputy Minority Leader. The past six years were worth more than a doctorate degree, Villanueva said, because he was also mentored by former senators Vicente Sotto III, Ralph Recto (now Batangas 6th District congressman), Franklin Drilon, and Senator Panfilo L