“Sa totoo lang, ang gusto nila ay kampihan, hindi prinsipyo. Gusto nila sumama kami sa boycott, patahimikin ang Senado at gamitin ang minority para manatili ang Senate President sa puwesto,” the Solid Bloc 11 said.
The Solid Bloc 11 or SB-11 minority senators declared on Monday, June
1, that they would not join members of the majority in boycotting
sessions following the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, saying they must
all get back to work because it was their duty to do so.
In a
statement, the SB-11 criticized Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano’s
call for the chamber to go quiet when the arrest of Estrada was about
the rule of law, public accountability and a process before the Office
of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan that no senator, no bloc and no
presiding officer controls.
“Let us call this for what it is: the claim that this is about Senate independence is false,” the minority said.
They also questioned Cayetano’s move as he seemed to be protecting his position amid the decreasing number of majority senators.
“Sa totoo lang, ang gusto nila ay kampihan, hindi prinsipyo. Gusto nila sumama kami sa boycott, patahimikin ang Senado at gamitin ang minority para manatili ang Senate President sa puwesto habang iniiwasan ang tunay na test of numbers sa floor,” the minority emphasized.
Aside
from Estrada who can no longer physically vote for a Senate president
in case of another coup, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa had gone back to hiding
in May to evade arrest after the International Criminal Court issued an
arrest warrant against him.
Cayetano was elected Senate president
as the chamber prepared for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara
Duterte, replacing Sen. Vicente Sotto III also last month.
“The
public has every right to ask whether (Senate President) Cayetano is
repeating what he did in the House of Representatives, when questions
were raised about a leader refusing to step aside, refusing to convene
and holding up proceedings when the numbers were no longer certain,” the
minority stressed.
Cayetano vowed to honor his term-sharing deal
with then Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco for the speakership
brokered by former president Rodrigo Duterte, but then said it would
still be the members of the House who would choose their leader when it
was time for him to give up the position.
The SB-11 said they were
present for the 5 p.m. resumption of session on Monday, ready to work,
ready to vote on pending bills and ready to keep the Senate running, but
the majority led by Cayetano chose not to show up.
“They did not
even have the courtesy to inform us when they ignored the rules, and
could not extend the basic decency of telling the minority that they had
no intention of convening.
Let us focus on the work, because the
Senate has serious business before it, and if the majority wants to
protest, deliver privilege speeches or defend its position, the proper
place to do that is on the floor, not by making the chamber stand
still,” the SB-11 statement read.
“Ang Senado ay hindi pag-aari ng iisang may hawak ng gavel. Institusyon ito ng taumbayan at napakadaming mahalagang panukala ang nabibinbin dahil sa drama ng mayorya,” the minority stressed.
The
minority senators said important measures were left hanging because of
the majority’s boycott, including the Magna Carta of Barangay Health
Workers, the Anti-Hospital Detention Bill, the confirmation of generals
before the Commission on Appointments and the bills granting Philippine
citizenship to Bennie Boatwright III and Matthew James Ramos.
“This
is a boycott because of the arrest of (Sen.) Jinggoy Estrada, and the
public should not be asked to believe another convenient line from a
leadership that has repeatedly twisted the truth. Today was a step
toward accountability in a controversy that the public has long demanded
action on, and after years of people asking why nothing was happening
in flood control investigations, it is unacceptable to suddenly call the
rule of law an attack on the Senate,” they noted.
“Is Senate President Alan Cayetano now questioning the rule of law?” they argued.
The
minority said this might be the first time in decades that Senate work
stopped because the presiding officer himself refused to work, because
even during typhoons and the height of the pandemic, work was suspended
only because of necessity or because systems still had to be set up, not
because the leadership chose a boycott of duty.
“The question now
is just as serious: will they do this again for the next two session
days, and will they keep the Senate idle simply to avoid facing the
numbers on the floor?” the minority asked.
“The Senate should open
its doors, call the session to order and return to work, because no
Facebook post, no appeal to institutional pride and no political drama
can erase the basic duty of senators to show up, follow the law and
serve the people,” the minority said. “And lastly, we call on the
Filipino people to watch the Senate closely, because when an institution
refuses to work, public vigilance becomes the people’s first line of
defense.” – Aurea Calica