'Minority boycotted term extension bills'

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she joined the Senate boycott last Wednesday to block alleged attempts to pass two controversial bills and not to show solidarity with Sen. Manuel Villar, who could have faced censure from his colleagues in the majority for the C-5 road controversy.

The two bills seek to reorganize the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

“I am chair of the economic affairs committee, and I was never consulted on either bill. I would certainly have protested a vote on the floor this afternoon, because they have worrisome provisions,” she said.

“For example, like the pending immigration bill, the Pagcor bill seeks to grant security of tenure to the head of office,” she said.

Santiago said that reorganizing the NTC would have far-reaching consequences, because the agency has control over importations of signal jammers that could disrupt the operations of poll automation machines, cell phones, radios, and other tools for telecommunications.

“The mere fact that the Senate lacked a quorum yesterday (Wednesday) proves that the C-5 committee report cannot muster even the 12 votes that are needed for a quorum,” she said.

“Thus, if a division of the House had been held, the proposed sanctions against Sen. Manny Villar would have gone down in defeat,” she said.

Santiago said she was “deeply suspicious” of the political noise over the committee report against Villar, because it apparently camouflaged the introduction of the two controversial bills.

“Media attention may have been diverted to the C-5 committee report, so that they would fail to notice the two bills being sneaked through the two chambers of Congress,” she said.

Santiago said that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, after a roll call, adjourned the session for lack of quorum.

Session resumes on May 31 for the canvassing of presidential votes.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano also said he and his colleagues in the minority had opted to skip the last day of session to prevent a railroading of the two Palace-backed bills.

But he stressed minority members were against the majority’s threat to censure Villar on the C-5 issue.

“Our job in the minority is to fiscalize. We can also fiscalize by preventing a quorum,” he said at a press conference after the adjournment of session.

“But why is it that when they don’t have a quorum, they blame the minority for it.”

The boycott of the last session by the minority senators had compromised several measures as well as the Committee of the Whole’s report recommending censure for Villar.

“This is not a boycott. We are simply fiscalizing - this is part of minority tactics, hindi namin trabaho na pumunta para magkaroon ng quorum (it’s not our job to go here to have a quorum),” Cayetano said.

Santiago, Cayetano, Villar, Minority Leader Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Joker Arroyo, Pia Cayetano, and Villar’s running mate Loren Legarda monitored the Senate proceedings on TV at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel.

Administration Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid was also with the group.

Sources said administration senators Edgardo Angara and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. were “on call” in case their physical presence at the plenary was needed.

Pimentel said Enrile’s failure to muster a quorum has cast doubts on his leadership capabilities.

“The majority did not get a quorum due to the failure of the leadership for the first time in the history of the Senate. This invidious partisanship of the Senate leadership irreparably derailed its pro-people agenda,” Pimentel said.

Game plan

Had there been a voting, the source said Villar would have really gotten a majority or at least 12 votes against the recommendation of the Enrile-led Committee of the Whole.

Apart from Enrile, those who were present in last Wednesday’s session were Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, senators Jamby Madrigal, Richard Gordon, Francis Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Benigno Aquino III, Manuel Roxas II, Francis Pangilinan, and Rodolfo Biazon.

The source said that had the Senate proceeded with its session, Honasan would have voted against the committee report. “Senator Honasan would not join any move to oust Enrile, but he would vote against the committee report,” the source said.

Another senator, whom the source declined to name, was said to be “active” in plenary debates but “neutral” on the issue against Villar.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who exposed the C-5 issue, was abroad to avoid “harassment” from the administration in connection with his alleged involvement in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is in detention on rebellion charges.

Ready for all scenarios

“Had they called for our arrest, we were ready. They will be surprised because we knew also we have the votes to reject the report,” the source said, noting that the Senate leadership’s failure to censure Villar would further boost the NP standard-bearer’s chances in the May elections.

Under Senate Rules, the Senate president can order the sargeant-at-arms to compel a senator to attend session to allow the chamber to act on pressing matters.

Madrigal on Wednesday sought to have the absent senators arrested but Enrile said he’d rather take a compassionate stance and rejected this option.

“We would have come, interpellated the majority and debated on the merits of the issue but we opted not to last Wednesday because we also wanted to prevent a showdown with the majority because this would again place the Senate in bad light before the public,” another senator explained.

Cayetano said Enrile was still able to take advantage of the situation when he immediately adjourned the session.          “He was able to prolong his stay as Senate President until canvassing starts on May 31 to June 4,” Cayetano said.

Public opinion

With the failure of the Senate under his leadership to censure Villar, Enrile said he is now leaving it up to the people to decide on the fate of the NP presidential candidate.

“Let the people judge him. But I have my own opinion and I will articulate that opinion when I go to the people as a politician, not as a Senate president. And I have a right to articulate it at that point because I am already playing politics,” Enrile told the weekly Kapihan sa Senado forum yesterday.

Enrile also downplayed alleged ouster moves against him.

“They can continue their coup but it’s going to be just a coup-coup-coup or kukurukuku. You know, that’s just the ineptness of some people,” he said. “You know I’ve never planned anything unless I can pull it through. Whether it is a life and death issue I will pull it through, if I have to plan it. These guys planned a kukurukuku but it evaporated like a fart, if I may use that word,” Enrile said.

“Please, go ahead. If you can unseat me, unseat me but I will have to do my job,” he said.

Enrile reiterated that the committee report remains an “open issue.”    

“It has not been closed. It is not disposed of. The sentence of the sanction recommended by the report has not been read or disposed because the group of Senator Villar opted not to ask questions from me,” Enrile said.

He also admitted that they had intended to pass the bills on Pagcor and on NTC because they had been certified urgent by Malacañang.

“Pagcor is different, it is not a necessity. But the NTC to me is a necessity to protect 80 million cell phone holders who are being robbed blind of their prepaid loads and most of these are poor people,” he said.

Enrile belied Cayetano’s claim that the two measures were the administration’s “money-making bills.”

Enrile said he wouldn’t block any call from President Arroyo for a special session to enable Congress to act on the pending bills.

Apart from the NTC and the Pagcor bills, another urgent measure, the proposed Gun Control Act, got stalled because of the lack of quorum last Wednesday.

Enrile also said the Senate under his leadership has passed more bills than the three previous Congresses.

“I am proud to say that this Congress has passed more bills than the 11th, 12th and 13th Congress combined,” Enrile said.

“Out of around 500 Senate and House bills that were passed on third reading, more than half were enacted into law,” he added.

“It was hard work but we are duty bound to perform our mandate as duly elected senators of the Republic,” he said.