Former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel III said the upper chamber needs a unifier not a fighter.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano should consider stepping down
for the good of the chamber, as his combative leadership style appears
to be fueling a gridlock that threatens to render the Senate useless,
former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel III said on Sunday, May 31.
While
not framed as a demand, Pimentel said Cayetano should resign given the
fact that the chamber could no longer accomplish anything under his
leadership.
“You volunteered to be a leader, then your chamber
can’t do anything because of all the fighting. You may think, ‘This is
not for me, I will step back.’ Give it (leadership) up for the good of
the chamber, not for your own good,” Pimentel told dzBB, adding that the Senate is currently “deeply divided.”
Leading
a chamber that can’t accomplish anything should be taken as a signal
that the Senate presidency is not for him, Pimentel said.
“Better yet, get a better unifier,” Pimentel said.
Having
worked with Cayetano since the 15th Congress, Pimentel described the
former as having an “extreme personality” that could make it difficult
to build consensus in a fractured chamber.
“Alan Peter is palaban
(a fighter). If you challenge him, he will also challenge you. Our
Senate is smaller than a classroom, you should adapt to your colleagues.
You need a bit of unity. It doesn’t need to be all disunity,
quarrelling and fighting,” Pimentel said.
He said while he was
able to be cordial or even be friends with opponents in the majority
when he was part of the minority in his 12-year tenure in the chamber,
he was informed that the 13-member Cayetano majority and the 11-member
minority no longer engage with each other.
Warning that the
ongoing gridlock is eating up legislative time, Pimentel said senators
now need to be fearful of being part of a chamber that is unable to
achieve anything.
He said this total breakdown in relationships will heavily contaminate the upcoming impeachment proceedings.
Pimentel
also raised serious legal concerns regarding the majority’s plan to
activate panels like the Blue Ribbon and Public Order committees before
the minority bloc has officially named its members.
He cautioned
the majority against railroading the process and ignoring basic
parliamentary courtesy, stressing that any hearings conducted without an
officially constituted minority could be challenged in court.
“If the minority does not have a voice, that may be questioned in court,” Pimentel said.
To
prevent the Senate from completely freezing, Pimentel appealed to both
factions, urging them to prioritize the institution’s image over
political gamesmanship.
While he warned the majority bloc against
bypassing the rules, he simultaneously called on the minority to submit
their committee nominees without further delay.
“My appeal to the
majority, do not dismiss the minority because that is against the rules.
To the minority, cooperate as best as you can so the Senate can
function, because the institution is becoming pitiful,” Pimentel urged.
The minority has yet to elect its delegates to the permanent committees already organized by the majority.
Meanwhile,
League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) national president and San
Juan Mayor Francis Zamora underscored the need for lawmakers to focus on
their legislative duties.
“As a Filipino, I want to see a Senate
that is respectable and respected. We should conduct ourselves in a
manner worthy of respect because that is why elected officials are
called honorable,” Zamora told reporters in Legazpi City, Albay on
Saturday.
He said he was expressing his personal opinion and not the position of the LCP. — With Mark Ernest Villeza