Cayetano asked to resign as Senate chief as majority skips session anew

By Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel

SENATE President Alan Peter S. Cayetano should step down as Senate president after majority lawmakers skipped sessions for a second time this week, the Senate minority bloc said on Tuesday, holding key legislative work hostage.

Minority senators, referred to as the “Solid Bloc 11,” appeared before the media at the Session Hall addressing the second day of the majority’s no-show, maintaining that the Cayetano-led bloc’s absence demonstrated a “dereliction of duty.”

“The Senate could not be made to stop working simply because its presiding officer refuses to,” Senator Erwin T. Tulfo said during the minority bloc’s briefing.

“President Alan Peter Cayetano should resign as he has shown that he cannot function as the leader of the Senate.”

Senator Francis Pancratius “Kiko” N. Pangilinan raised that there has been a violation of the Senate Rules, citing its Rule XIV, Section 41 mandating that the Senate president may postpone the session after consultations with both the majority and minority leaders.

Mr. Pangilinan also expressed dismay on the postponement of the sessions, noting that agriculture and citizenship bills have been in limbo due to the leadership fiasco.

“We apologize to them, we apologize to the Filipino people,” Mr. Pangilinan said. “Four of the bills on [Tuesday’s] agenda are ones that I hope will benefit our farmers and fishermen, two agriculture bills, and the citizenship bills.”

Former Finance Committee Chairman Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said the Senate spends P25 million per day on utilities and staff salary, adding that the non-conduct of session wastes taxpayer’s money.

The minority bloc also appealed to their colleagues to attend the session, expressing openness to any debates.

Majority bloc senators on Monday opted out of the scheduled 5 p.m. plenary following Senator Jose “Jinggoy” P. Estrada, Jr.’s voluntary surrender to the police following the issuance of an arrest warrant against him for plunder charges linked to the flood control scam.

Malacañang raised the impact of the Senate ruckus on the priority legislative agenda, and ultimately, on Filipinos and the economy.

“If this is what is happening in the Senate, it will be really difficult [to pass priority bills], as well as for Filipinos and the economy because of the noise and mess in the chamber,” Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro told a briefing in Filipino. 

On the executive’s side, she assured that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Cabinet secretaries are doing their part and are open to coordinate and cooperate with whoever leads the chamber.

“It is true that there was no need for work to be disrupted [last June 1]. Accompanying and supporting Senator Jinggoy Estrada as a friend was only proper, but there was no need to set aside one’s mandate and responsibilities over this kind of issue,” she added.

Congress has until Thursday to act on legislative measures before it adjourns sine die on June 4. Lawmakers will reconvene on July 27 for the start of a new regular session and the State of the Nation Address of Mr. Marcos.

In a Facebook livestream, Mr. Cayetano accused the Senate minority bloc of staging a walkout as a ploy to become the majority and prevent Senate rules from changing.

“The objective of their walkout is for them to become the majority. So now, since there were no quorums and no sessions [on Monday] and [Tuesday], that comes with protests — protests against the puppet Senate that they want,” he said in Filipino, adding it is also a parliamentary tool to make sure the Blue Ribbon panel, led by his sister Pilar Juliana “Pia” S. Cayetano, will proceed with its Thursday hearing. “Let me repeat, they used the parliamentary tool of walking out so that the change of rules would not push through. So now the majority (bloc) is also using the rules properly — morally and legally.”

Minority lawmakers denied his accusations during their briefing.

Political analysts said the majority’s recent moves as attempts to leverage their number against the minority to shape public perception and the path of the impeachment proceedings.

“The no-show at the plenary appears less like an isolated incident and more like a continuation of an ongoing struggle over control of the Senate’s agenda, procedures, and institutional direction,” Arjan P. Aguirre, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

The absence of the majority bloc compromises the legislative work, political science professor at the Ateneo de Manila University Hansley A. Juliano said separately, noting that it is a move to cripple the minority.

“This is all about crippling the body to pressure the minority to fold to them,” he said via Messenger chat. “As long as their base supports them and tolerates them, and public opinion does not swing any further against them, especially at the expense of the [vice president], we will continue to see this rigmarole.” — with Chloe Mari A. Hufana