“THEY think we (i.e., the Senate) are a circus.”
This was part of the emotional outburst of Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri last May 25, 2026, in reaction to a video played at the behest of fellow Sen. Imee Marcos, alleging a common thread to explain recent events involving the Senate, including:
– The change in leadership in the Senate.
– The “assault” (i.e., “nilusob” in the words of Senator Marcos’ video) of the Senate during the planned arrest of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa.
– Disinformation about what transpired during the assault on the Senate.
– Pressure, threats and demolition job against certain senators.
According to the video, then-Senate president Vicente Sotto III had a meeting with his House of Representatives counterpart Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III about constitutional change. Apparently — if my understanding of the video is correct — constitutional change shall be the reason why there will be no elections in 2028, derailing the presidential bid of undisputed survey leader Vice President Sara Duterte in the process. To get the senators on board, certain provisions that are palatable to them shall be included in the Charter change package. Furthermore, the 2027 and 2028 national budget will be mobilized to keep the legislative branch in line.
The video in essence alleges an “unholy alliance” of former strange bedfellows united by self-interest, an insatiable greed for money and a common desire to prevent a Duterte victory in 2028.
I understand the indignation of Senator Zubiri, but as an ordinary citizen, I stopped seeing the Senate as an “august chamber” decades ago.
The Senate “used” to be an august chamber, and it is not because of the stature of former members that include Manuel Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, Rafael Palma, Isabelo de los Reyes, Jose P. Laurel, Claro M. Recto, Jovito Salonga, and others. The Senate stood as an august chamber because senators were steadfastly against being made a stooge of Malacañang, as proven by its 1991 rejection of the United States Military Bases Agreement despite the feverish campaigning of then-president Corazon “Cory” Aquino.
The Senate was a bastion of independence against an overbearing Malacañang, and ideally, what it should always be. Unfortunately, that is no longer true now.
After a majority of the senators voted to block the opening of the infamous second envelope during the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada in 2001, the Senate ceased to be a bulwark of independence for the public interest. The Senate publicly announced then that it was an enthusiastic lackey of Malacañang.
Of President Joseph Estrada of all people!
The Senate’s degeneration into a state of blissful political prostitution probably began even before the Estrada impeachment. That particular event, however, stands out in collective memory — symbolized by the victorious gyrations of Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta, aunt of incumbent Sen. Bam Aquino — as the annunciation of the Senate’s docile servitude toward Malacañang.
Any dignity the Senate had immediately became history with Aquino-Oreta’s unadulterated shimmy on the session floor.
Not content with the vulgarity of the Estrada impeachment trial in 2001, the Senate decided to level up in terms of sleaziness when Sen. Jinggoy Estrada — another Estrada! — confessed to the public that the senators were gifted P50 million to P200 million worth of “incentives” from the Disbursement Acceleration Program of the administration of president Benigno Aquino III in exchange for a guilty verdict in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Everyone later denied the substance of Jinggoy’s revelation but the Filipino people felt the sincerity and truthfulness of his disclosure.
The Corona impeachment in 2012 was a major turning point in the history of the Senate. All but three senators — incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor-Santiago — voted to impeach Corona then. That Senate shamelessly introduced a simple erroneous statement of assets, liability and net worth as an impeachable offense, made equivalent to plunder, culpable violation of the Constitution and other high crimes.
His vote against the impeachment of Corona earned for then-senator Marcos Jr. the trust and admiration of the Filipino people. It later became apparent that Bongbong’s vote was not a principled vote, rather a political move against his family’s rivals, the Aquinos. Afterward, Bongbong as president often situated himself on the wrong side of history.
Marcos Jr.’s position during the Corona impeachment is explained by the broken clock principle: a clock, even though broken, tells the correct time twice a day. Despite his politics being driven by personal interests, Bongbong Marcos, like the broken clock, was still correctly positioned proverbially two times a day.
Inside Malacañang beginning in 2022, Marcos Jr. would unravel as a true self-interested political animal, rather than the ethical and upstanding statesman he pretended to be in the 2012 Corona impeachment.
A 20-3 vote during the Corona impeachment in 2012 for a bill of attainder verdict, according to the sagacious Sen. Joker Arroyo, announced to the world that the Senate was practically a brothel.
In that sense likewise, the Senate managed to salvage a portion of its reputation during the earlier Estrada impeachment in 2001, particularly the case of then-Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who sacrificed his personal and political alliance with President Estrada to uphold the dignity of the institution. In 2001, the Filipino people were convinced that certain members of the Senate still had their statesmanship record unblemished.
Some time later, however, the same personalities would unravel, showing the Filipino people that their authentic motivations during the Estrada impeachment in 2001 were primarily political, not judicial or moral.
What was unfinished in 2001 became essentially sealed by 2012: senators had destroyed what was left in the stature and dignity of the Senate as an august chamber. Thus, I laugh at Senator Zubiri’s indignation at Sen. Imee Marcos’ video presentation. To be sure, Zubiri was genuinely livid — and understandably so — that Imee would so nakedly throw her colleagues under the bus for her own selfish political agenda.
Yet, the stark reality of it all is that the Senate stopped being an august chamber a long time ago. And the chance of rehabilitation is practically nil.
