Pia holds Kumustahan on FB Live

MANILA, Philippines — After drawing criticism and becoming the subject of online memes over her “Wala man lang nangumusta sa amin” statement, Sen. Pia Cayetano went live on Facebook Friday night to defend her emotions and encourage people to reach out to others.

“Balita ko trending na raw po ang ‘Kumusta ka?’ Kaya magtatanong sa bawa’t isa sa inyo, ‘kumusta ka?’” Cayetano said at the start of her livestream.

It was Cayetano’s first public response after her emotional outburst during Wednesday’s Senate session, when she took offense at the privilege speech of Sen. Risa Hontiveros criticizing the leadership of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano following the May 13 shooting incident inside the Senate building.

During her livestream, Cayetano said she chose to “move on” to protect her peace after what transpired in the Senate.

“There is nothing wrong with experiencing different emotions. We’re human beings. You are no longer human if you do not feel emotions. You see me express my feelings as somebody who was scared, who was deeply hurt. I felt bad, because I’m human. But more importantly for me is you’re able to move on,” Cayetano said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“That’s my purpose for having this conversation. Reach out, guys. Whatever negative feelings you have, you reverse it,” she added.

Still, Cayetano maintained that some minority senators failed to immediately check on them after gunshots rang out in the Senate building, despite a WhatsApp group later showing messages of concern from the minority bloc.

According to Cayetano, the messages only came hours after the three-minute shooting incident at around 7:45 p.m.

She recalled asking Sen. Camille Villar to update their colleagues in the group chat.

“I told my companions, including Senator Camille Villar, ‘Do our colleagues who are not here know what happened? Did they send any message in our group chat?’ Camille checked and said there was none. I said, ‘They did not even check on us.’ So I told Camille, ‘Put there: ICYMI, we are still alive.’ And Camille posted, ‘Hi, we’re OK,’” Cayetano said.

“Anyway, when Camille finally said, ‘We’re OK here,’ that’s when they responded,” she added.

Cayetano also said that while some minority senators approached her after her speech, others did not.

“There is nothing to gain from holding grudges. So, thank you to my colleagues who showed concern. But there were really some who did not approach me. They really had no intention of checking on us. That’s life,” she said.