Hello, senators

I want to say hello to:

Pia Cayetano. Kamusta na po. How are you?

My countrymen. Kamusta na po? How are you guys and girls? How are you managing? I know you are not OK.

I say hello because, according to Pia Cayetano, my favorite senator, it is bad manners not to say hello. Especially in these bad times. When one is always under threat of death, of extinction, of irrelevance, of total meaninglessness of living.

Inflation is raging. The rate of increase in prices of basic goods measured by the consumer price index has galloped from 2.0 percent in January 2026 to 4.1 percent in March, then to 7.2 percent in April – the fastest jump in three years.

Even President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is worried. He is a good husband. He cooks. If you cook, you know how much prices have changed – for the worse.

On May 19, 2026, Bongbong told Japanese reporters: “The concern (is) stagflation…this is what we have been trying to control.” He also acknowledged that suppliers are “feeling the pinch.” For this reason, Marcos says the government might let prices of “non-critical” food items rise.

Stagflation is the combination of stagnant economic growth, high inflation and high unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate climbed to 5.8 percent in January 2026, highest in five years, since 7.8 percent in 2021. Jobless Filipinos rose to 2.96 million in January 2026, from 2.17 million in January 2025 and 2.26 million in December 2025.

Underemployment, the number who work only part time or who don’t like their job but cannot find any better, stood at 13.2 percent (6.35 million) in January 2026, slightly down from 13.3 percent (6.47 million) underemployment rate in January 2025, but higher than the eight percent (2.42 million) underemployment in December 2025.

Effectively, add those unemployed (2.96 million) and underemployed (6.35 million), you get 9.31 million looking for work and for a better job, but cannot find one. If you consider that each employed guy has five family members, that’s 46.55 million unhappy Filipinos, 39 percent of the population or four of every ten Filipinos.

Thankfully, unemployment dipped to 5.0 percent in March 2026, but 5.0 is still up from 3.8 percent in September 2025, a jump of 32 percent. A third of people who got jobs last year lost their jobs this year.

Hello, senators. A third of the senators who got elected in May 2025 are still holding on to their jobs. Using the unemployment figures for ordinary Filipinos, at least four senators should have lost their jobs by now, but did not.

Of 24 incumbent senators, at least a third, or eight, should lose their jobs. Three are accused of plunder or massive stealing. Taxpayers lost P1 trillion from flood control alone in 2025 – with the senators as co-conspirators. Two are accused of being mass murderers. That’s seven. Two are accused of stock market manipulation.  That’s nine.

The one who should be fired right now, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa,  escaped under cover of darkness on May 14, after the International Criminal Court on May 11, 2026 made public an arrest warrant.

The former chief of the Davao police and of the Philippine National Police is co-accused or co-perpetrator (with jailed former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte) in the mass murder of between 6,200 people and 30,000. Bato, in particular, is linked to at least 32 murders which cases will be presented against him when he shows up before the ICC.

How many senators helped Bato dela Rosa escape? Twelve. Led by the Senate President, Alan Peter Cayetano, younger brother of Crying Lady Pia Cayetano.

Helping a suspect escape from being arrested is obstruction of justice. PD 1829 of 1981 penalizes “acts which obstruct or frustrate or tend to obstruct or frustrate the successful apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders” with “prision correccional in its maximum period, or a fine ranging from P1,000 to P6,000, or both.”

Our senators, our lawmakers are lawbreakers. Our senators cry, lie, deny, steal and kill. And abet injustice.

Ordinary Filipinos cry, lie, deny and steal. Why not? Prices are high, jobs are scarce and they are losing their jobs. They should kill their elected senators – the source of many of their problems – but they won’t do that. Magagalit si Jesus. At si Pia ay iiyak. Hello, Pia.

Here is Pia Cayetano at the May 20, 2026 Senate session:

“I just want to make this quick statement. Parang walang nangyari. Yan po ang statement ng ating butihing Senadora Risa Hontiveros. Siguro po, para sa inyong mga wala dito, pero para sa amin na nandito, napakaraming nangyari.

“Takot na takot po ako na kailangan ko na magpaalam sa mga anak ko. At yung staff ko, dalawang pintuan ang pagitan ko sa putukan. Yung staff ko na si Claire na 20 years na sa akin, nandun siya sa labas. She has a 12-year-old son. Kinikwento niya sa akin lately na tumatakbo siya, hindi niya alam kung saan siya pumunta. Kaya para sabihin niyo na walang nangyari, napakasakit para sa amin lahat na nandito.

“Dalawang pintuan ang nagpo-protect sa akin sa putukan. Pero yung media, yung Senate staff, yung hindi naman makauwi dahil sila ang security, sila ang elevator women and boys natin, nandoon po sila. So dear colleagues, napakaraming nangyari. And one more thing, wala ho akong sinisisi. Pero nung pagkatapos ng lahat, pagtingin ko ng group natin, yung dating majority group, walang ni isa sa inyong nangumusta sa amin.

“Some of you I’ve known for 20 years, 10 years and I didn’t even hear any of you say, kumusta na kayo dyan? Napakasakit po sa akin. Sobrang sakit. So yun lang ang masasabi ko. Yes, I am very ready to share my story, to ask questions. Pero kung wala ho kayo dito, huwag niyong kwestyunin yung mga nangyari sa mga nandito.

“Dahil nandito kami, kasama ng staff, staff namin, Senate staff. You have your own story, I respect that. But please respect my own story.”

Hello, senators.

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Email: [email protected]