Updated with corrections
NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 28 May 2026) — For all his bully bulldog appearance, Senator Rodante Marcoleta is actually a seer. He sees that 3 or 4 members of the Senate majority bloc, including himself, may face jail time sooner or later, but more likely, very soon. So he rushed a proposal to amend the Senate Rules to allow remote participation in Senate proceedings via such platforms as teleconferencing, Zoom, group chat, and other modes of distance communication.
The aim of the proposal is crystal clear. If adopted, it would allow the fugitive Senator Bato dela Rosa to attend Senate proceedings while in hiding and the other DDS senators to participate in the impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte even if they are in prison for plunder cases and other high crimes.
Without allowing a debate on Marcoleta’s proposal, SP Cayetano, after relinquishing the Chair to Senator Legarda, moved for the division of the House.
The minority, of course, vehemently objected to the proposal and staged a walkout from the plenary to express their disgust at the railroading attempt.
It is just a short wait for the majority-minority composition and the leadership of the Senate to change.
Once Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva, Francis Escudero, and Rodante Marcoleta are arrested and detained by the Ombudsman, and with Bato on the run, the majority bloc would just be six.
If Cayetano and Padilla are charged and detained for obstruction of justice in the escape of the ICC fugitive Bato, the current Senate majority may further be reduced to just five active members.
There’s no worse tragedy than this plight in number politics.
Those charged with plunder are automatically detained and remain in the facility while undergoing trial.
A conviction for plunder will disqualify one from holding a public post. Those convicted of obstruction of justice are, likewise, disqualified from holding public posts.
The DDS senators are in the same boat of self-destruction in betraying public trust.
Many may no longer be of help to their patron, VP Sara Duterte, at her impeachment trial scheduled to start on July 6, 2036.
Meanwhile, on May 11, 2026, SP Cayetano hysterically cried for the whole world to notice, “The Senate is under attack!”
It came out later that he was actually the one who attacked the Senate.
For it was his newly hired chief security officer who fired the shots inside the Senate building resulting to the commotion that facilitated the escape of ICC fugitive Senator Bato, who was under his protective custody.
The Senate is at its lowest.
It is going to the drain by the incompetence of those who are in running it.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)
