The PH Senate is in a senseless, unfortunate situation. Since Monday, June 1, the majority bloc hasn’t reported to work to assert its independence, according to Cayetano.
He does not explain his assertion as to the force or forces that threaten the Institution’s independence. Suffice it to say that the Senate is dysfunctional. It is found in the doldrums.
Earlier, the minority bloc staged a walkout in protest over a proposal for online participation of
members in Senate proceedings that the Senate President was ramming down their throats.
The proposed self-serving amendment to the Senate Rules, if adopted, would allow ICC fugitive Senator Bato Dela Rosa, who is on the run, and other senators who will soon be jailed allegedly for plunder and other high crimes, namely, Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva, and Chiz Escudero, and proponent Marcoleta himself, to allow Work-From-Jail or in Bato’s case, from his rate hole, via online communication platforms.
Mark Villar and Camille Villar are likely to join the work-from-jail gang for their alleged criminal offense of insider trading and market manipulation.
What kind of Senate do we have, where one member is a fugitive from justice, and six others have criminal liabilities?
And add Bong Go, who also will disappear soon from the Senate, as he will be shipped to The Hague as supposedly one of the co-perpetrators of FPRRD in committing crimes against humanity.
The arrest of a recidivist Jinggoy Estrada for plunder, his third time, and with Bato, still on the run, the majority-minority composition of the Senate is unexpectedly transformed. The majority bloc is reduced to 11 members, in a deadlock with the minority’s Solid Bloc 11.
How the Senate would navigate this impasse is exciting to watch. Unfortunately, Senate President Peter Alan Cayetano is primarily concerned with preserving his post rather than with resolving issues and piloting the Institution to productive ends.
Cayetano has not called a session since Monday, June 1, apprehensive that he might fall from his precarious perch in the Senate presidency by a negotiation down below.
Naturally, the majority bloc, noting their leader’s signal, did not report for work. Only the 11 members of the minority reported for duty, unable to do anything except to drink coffee at the Senate lounge.
Thus, the Senate, to date, is no longer functioning. Resolutions are not passed, and critical bills are not acted upon.
SP Cayetano has shown and proven his incompetence in navigating the Senate in turbulent seas. If he still has some iota of decency left, he should step down voluntarily to save the Senate from further indignity and decadence.
(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, Philippines)
