MANILA, Philippines — Now that the numbers game in the Senate is "11-11" with the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, will Senate President (SP) Alan Peter Cayetano deliberately cancel the last two session days of Congress to secure his position?
The 11-member Senate minority bloc raised this question as Congress adjourns sine die on June 6 and will reopen on July 26 to coincide with the holding of the joint session of Congress to hear the State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Fugitive Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa belonged to the majority group. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court over crimes against humanity linked to his involvement in the drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte. He slipped out of Senate protective custody on May 13 and is now subject of a manhunt.
"The public has every right to ask whether SP Cayetano is repeating what he did in the House of Representatives, when questions were raised about a leader refusing to step aside, refusing to convene and holding up proceedings when the numbers were no longer certain," the minority bloc said in a joint statement.
They were referring to the time when Cayetano was House speaker in 2020 and refused to turn over the position to then Marinduque representative Lord Allan Velasco despite a term-sharing deal brokered by Duterte.
"The question now is just as serious: will they do this again for the next two session days, and will they keep the Senate idle simply to avoid facing the numbers on the floor?" they asked.
For the first time in the recent history of the Senate, the session was suspended without valid reason which kept the minority bloc in the dark.
Cayetano was supposed to resume session at 5 p.m. But he, and fellow members in the majority group have not yet arrived by 5:30 p.m. The minority bloc stayed until past 7 p.m. as they waited for the majority group to arrive.
They finally decided to leave after the airconditioning system and wi-fi connection at the session hall were turned off, said Sen. Raffy Tulfo.
The minority said important measures were left hanging because of the majority’s boycott, including the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, the Anti-Hospital Detention Bill, the confirmation of generals before the Commission on Appointments and the bills granting Philippine citizenship to Bennie Boatwright III and Matthew James Ramos.
"Today was a step toward accountability in a controversy that the public has long demanded action on, and after years of people asking why nothing was happening in flood control investigations, it is unacceptable to suddenly call the rule of law an attack on the Senate," the bloc said.
This may be the first time in decades that Senate work stopped because the presiding officer himself refused to work, the minority said.
The group said that "even during typhoons and the height of the pandemic, work was suspended only because of necessity or because systems still had to be set up, not because the leadership chose a boycott of duty."
The Senate "should open its doors, call the session to order and return to work, because no Facebook post, no appeal to institutional pride and no political drama can erase the basic duty of senators to show up, follow the law and serve the people," the added.
