Pia Cayetano offended by insinuations that House reps had ill motive for Bayanihan 2

Senator Pia Cayetano on Thursday took offense to other senators' remarks about the motives of their counterparts in the House of Representatives in pushing for a provision for tourism infrastructure under the Bayanihan to Recover as One bill, or Bayanihan 2.

During the plenary session to ratify the reconciled version of the measure, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said it took the bicam about two days to reconcile the contentious provision for the P10-billion assistance to the tourism sector.

"We really protected the tourism industry here, we fought tooth and nail... 'Yung team natin sa Senado, I want to put on record, it was pure advocacy, none of us fought for a particular, just for a particular area or a particular personal interest, no, Mr. President, everyone worked together for the advocacies we were fighting for," he said.

To which Senate President Vicente Sotto III responded: "When the majority leader says they…were selfless in their proposals and advocacies and no agenda, whatsoever, you were merely talking about the Senate panel ano?"

"No comment, Mr. President. Basta kami sa Senado, it was pure advocacy and it will be shown in the records," Zubiri said, laughing.

"I think it’s a balanced Bayanihan 2, both for the House and the Senate, we have to give them credit, where credit is due. Of course our proposals, they accepted. May give and take din, we thank them also for the graciousness that they gave us," he added.

To recall, some members of the House want the P10 billion be allocated to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) for infrastructure programs, contrary to the Tourism Department and tourism stakeholders' call to keep the P10 billion as a credit facility for the sector’s COVID-19-hit micro and small players

Under the reconciled version of Bayanihan 2, the compromise was met when P6 billion was allocated to loans to micro, small, and medium enterprises through the DTI's Small Business Corp.; P3 billion was earmarked to aid displaced tourism workers; and P1 billion was earmarked for tourism infrastructure under the Department of Public Works and Highways.

But before the measure was ratified, Cayetano made a strong manifestation.

"I would like to point out the insinuation that no one in the Senate pushed for anything for personal gain makes it appear that our counterparts in the House did. And you all know that the Speaker is my brother," she said.

Her brother Alan Peter Cayetano is the current House Speaker.

The senator stressed that she was also a former lawmaker in the lower chamber where she had met "very honorable people."

"I'd like to, on behalf of my former colleagues in the House, to put on record that I do take offense na ang dami natin parinig na parang 'yung sa kanila eh may personal gain," Cayetano said.

She went on to say that she also supports infrastructure for tourism and acknowledged that her fellow senators had the prerogative to assert their position if they do not think an agency is "not competent to be lodged with big funds."

"If you don't like it, okay lang 'yun pero let's not naman insinuate na may masamang intention 'yung counterparts natin. I don't like the insinuation that there are other... because I was also a member of that House and I will stand up and speak for them because they cannot speak in this house," Cayetano said.

"And I'm not pinpointing anyone because it becomes a joke but I dont think it's a funny joke because these people mean well, they want to also take care of our constituents, the way we also want to," she added.

In response, Sotto said his earlier question has been answered well by Zubiri: "The Majority Leader said that both panels. I think it was placed on record."

Senator Sonny Angara, who led the bicam for Bayanihan 2 together with House Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte, tried to assuage the situation.

"I confirm that the House made very many good interventions... and you know, the Speaker who is the brother of our colleague, if not for his intervention we may not have broken the deadlock for the tourism, they graciously agreed despite their reservations to lodge the money in the [Small Business] Corporation," he said.

"I was also a member of the House so I don't think we can blame our colleagues from the other house for looking after their districts, kasi 'yun ang bottom line nila, unlike us we have this larger constituency," he added.

The session was adjourned soon after the Senate ratified Bayanihan 2. — BM, GMA News