Minority senators to Cayetano: Resign

MANILA, Philippines — After an hour of waiting in vain for members of the majority bloc to arrive for yesterday’s session, minority senators left the floor to hold a caucus after which they demanded the resignation of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, slamming him for taking the chamber hostage with his calls for boycott.

Against the backdrop of the Philippine flag hoisted over the session hall, the 11 members of the minority bloc – collectively called SB11 for Solid Bloc 11 – lined up on the floor as they read their statement calling the Cayetano-led boycott “a clear abandonment of responsibility, a dereliction of duty and a blatant disregard of the rules that govern this institution.”

“The Senate cannot be made to stop working simply because its presiding officer refuses to lead,” Sen. Erwin Tulfo said, reading from their statement, while the rest of the SB11 – Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Panfilo Lacson, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Raffy Tulfo, JV Ejercito and Lito Lapid – stood in a line behind him in a show of solidarity.

The SB11 cited Rule XIV, Sec. 41 of the Rules of the Senate, which states that the Senate president may only postpone the holding of the session after consulting with both the majority and minority leaders.

“That rule was violated. This is not merely a procedural lapse; it is a direct violation of the Rules of the Senate and a serious disrespect for the institution and the Filipino people,” the SB11 statement read.

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

After reading their statement, the minority senators took turns lambasting Cayetano’s leadership for holding the Senate hostage.

They also denied Cayetano’s allegation that the minority is bent on ousting him because they wanted to vacate the committees to stop the upcoming resumption on Thursday of the Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the flood control mess.

Zubiri called Cayetano’s allegation a “figment of imagination.”

“We’re not doing anything to subvert the process and agenda of the Senate,” he added.

Brave or a coward?

Sen. Raffy Tulfo, for his part, dared Cayetano to report to work instead of going on Facebook Live every day to defend his boycotts.

“What hurts is that instead of reporting here, SP Alan reports on Facebook. He should do the talking and debating here, not on social media,” he said.

“I’m challenging you, Alan Peter Cayetano – come here tomorrow if you’re brave. Otherwise, you’re a coward,” he added.

“We appeal to the rest of the majority bloc – not Senate President – we appeal to their sense of duty and responsibility: I wish they attend the session (today),” Lacson said.

Pangilinan bristled at Cayetano’s claim that the boycott is the majority’s way of asserting the Senate’s independence from alleged meddling by Malacañang.

“It’s actually impunity masquerading as an assertion of the Senate as an independent institution,” Pangilinan said.

Hontiveros rejected Cayetano’s dare for the minority to join them in going “quiet” as a protest.

“It’s extremely wrong to ‘let the Senate go quiet.’ The Senate is supposed to be a mouthpiece of the people, so why silence it?”

Gatchalian, Aquino and Erwin Tulfo said that with the senators’ monthly salary of P300,000 and the Senate spending P25 million daily in operating expenses, there should be no excuse for senators to skip work.

Damn your damdamin

Lacson, meanwhile, fired back at Sen. Rodante Marcoleta for claiming that emotional distress caused by Estrada’s arrest could justify the Senate’s failure to hold session on Monday.

Marcoleta had claimed the majority bloc felt belittled and disrespected by Estrada’s arrest.

“So, is it the minority bloc’s fault for not protesting because our Senate President was shouted at? Actually, we’re actually grateful that he wasn’t roughed up by (Interior) Sec Jonvic (Remulla) because of how he acted yesterday. Damn your damdamin,” Lacson said.

He also rejected Marcoleta’s argument that the serving of the arrest warrant on Estrada was an attack on the Senate’s dignity and independence.

“Senate’s independence does not place SP Cayetano and any senator above the law. It has nothing to do with non-adherence to the rule of law,” Lacson emphasized.

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, meanwhile, is set to stage a rally outside the Senate at 2 p.m. today to dramatize its indignation at senators’ disgraceful actions, especially those belonging to Cayetano’s majority bloc.

The majority’s boycotting of the session had already affected the Senate’s legislative workload that senators should supposedly clear before their last session day today. Congress will adjourn for its sine die break on Friday.

It’s all about Blue Ribbon – Cayetano

While the quorum bell was ringing, Cayetano held a Facebook live from a location that his office confirmed as outside the Senate.

In his broadcast, Cayetano said if the Sotto-led minority was applauded for its mastery of the rules in its May 26 walkout, the majority’s deliberate absence in session may also be considered a “parliamentary tool.”

Cayetano stressed that keeping his Senate presidency would mean a resumption of the flood control investigation by the Blue Ribbon committee on Thursday as scheduled, even as he acknowledged the ability of the 11-member minority to oust him.

“But it is also a parliamentary tool to ensure the Blue Ribbon hearing pushes through on Thursday,” he said, referring to the boycott. “I’m saying this again: they used the walkout as parliamentary tool to stop the changing of the rules. So now, the majority is using the rules properly, morally, legally,” Cayetano said in English and Filipino.

He said a boycott would ensure that the majority would be able to keep relevant committees and proceed with the investigation on the flood control mess tomorrow.

Uncertain

He, however, did not confirm whether there would be a session today or what it would mean if he fails to adjourn the session sine die. He held another Facebook live an hour after the last, where he did not address the minority’s call for him to resign or answer questions from the press about whether the majority would report to the Senate today to adjourn the session sine die.

Instead, he accused the minority senators of waiting for the perfect moment to strike when the majority numbers fluctuate.

“Their plan is to wrest the committees from the legitimate majority,” Cayetano claimed.

He noted that the minority has publicly floated the idea that if just one majority member is absent or abstains during the 11-11 tie, “they can move.”

Filipino-American wrestler Matthew James Ramos waited in the guests gallery for half an hour before leaving after it became apparent that there would be no session.

Ramos told reporters that he remains confident of the approval of his pending citizenship before the Senate.

Pangilinan, who used to chair the justice committee that tackled Ramos’ citizenship, apologized to Ramos and San Miguel Beermen player Bennie Boatwright because the third reading approval of their citizenship had been stalled because of the political gridlock.

Boatwright and Ramos were at the plenary hall on Monday, the majority’s first session boycott. Boatwright did not attend yesterday’s session.

Other bills left hanging before their sine die adjournment for the end of the first regular session are the proposed laws against hospital detention, a Magna Carta for barangay health workers and Pangilinan’s bills on agriculture and fisheries. — Emmanuel Tupas