No show? Senate Majority bloc missing during Monday Senate Session

By Sam Ternida

MANILA, Philippines — The absence of the senate majority bloc in the arranged Senate session on Monday, June 1, forced the session to be canceled.

All 13 members of the Senate majority bloc, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Joel Villanueva, Rodante Marcoleta, Bong Go, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Mark and Camille Villar, Pia Cayetano, including Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano orchestrated a no-show on a Senate Session.

Only the 11 members of the minority— Minority Floor Leader Tito Sotto, Risa Hontiveros, Raffy Tulfo, Erwin Tulfo, JV Ejercito, Lito Lapid, Panfilo Lacson, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Bam Aquino— attended the session.

Several hours prior to 5:00 p.m. Democratic Senator Jinggoy Estrada turned himself in to the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) during a session due to a non-bailable plunder warrant connected to a corruption case involving flood management. The no-show happened after Estrada was arrested for his association with the plunder case he is facing about suspected payments and insertions related to unusual flood control projects.

Cayetano used social media after Estrada was arrested to urge the minority bloc to allow the Senate to “be quiet, united and by choice.” He presented the majority’s absence as a demonstration to uphold the Senate’s institutional independence as a co-equal part of government.

Following the absence, Alan Cayetano posted a statement as a passionate call to action addressed to colleagues in the Senate Minority, urging them to defend the independence and integrity of the Senate as a co-equal branch of government. He addresses recent internal leadership disputes but stresses that any disagreements must be settled strictly within the Senate, free from outside influence or political interference.