Gordon questions Senate ‘family tour’

Sen. Richard Gordon yesterday questioned the participation of three Cayetanos in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, which started Monday and ends today.

Senators Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano and his wife Laarni, who is Taguig representative, are part of the Philippine delegation to the IPU, Gordon said.  

“It’s a family tour,” he noted.

The other members of the delegation, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., also went with their respective spouses but this was the practice at the IPU, according to reports. Gordon, meanwhile, could not say who went with Senators Jamby Madrigal and Loren Legarda.

Gordon said he was in Geneva for a convention of the International Red Cross last week but chose not to stay for the IPU because it was not significant. He said he had attended the event once before and nothing much was achieved.

Gordon was particularly peeved at the inaction of the Senate on his proposal to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections set for Oct. 29. He said he could not understand why the session was cut short for the IPU.

He said he decided to go home and catch the session even if he knew nothing more would happen to his proposal.

“We have to have session and we cancelled the session yesterday (Monday). Where are they this time? Should we just go along with them? Just let them be? We just keep quiet?” Gordon lamented.

Gordon also took a swipe at Villar for his supposed lack of leadership.

“You should not be following the other senators. You should lead and say these are our priorities. There seems to be no priority and nothing is moving,” Gordon said.

Gordon said he could not understand why the senators refused to debate on his proposal to postpone the simultaneous elections when it was for the sake of automated polls.

 “The Senate is where you have 24 men who will debate the great issues of the day. You don’t block the debate by technicalities. You make decisions. What decisions are we making here in the Senate? Is IPU more important than automation of elections?” Gordon asked.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, who attended yesterday’s session, said he saw nothing wrong with his colleagues’ participation in the IPU because all other nations would be represented. But he said he had not attended a single IPU conference. – Aurea Calica