Sotto, other senators get laughs over muting 'like in the House'

Senators on Wednesday shared a good laugh over "muting" colleagues in hybrid sessions just like in the House of Representatives as Senate President Tito Sotto pointed out in jest.

At the Senate plenary, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon was wrapping up his interpellation of Senate Ways and Means Committee chairperson Senator Pia Cayetano when another voice interrupted him mid-sentence.

It turned out to be Senator Richard Gordon who apparently forgot to put his mic on mute while talking to his staff.  This drew laughter from some senators.

"Perhaps, we can do the... the Senate secretariat can study the possibility of doing what they have in the House, they can mute anybody," Sotto said.

"Let's study that so that we can mute these guys who are opening their microphones and then talking to somebody else," he added.

Drilon joined Sotto in joking and said it was "the dream of the majority leader," referring to Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri who was also heard laughing in the background.

As the intramurals in the House continued, Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza said he was muted during the plenary session in the lower chamber on Tuesday afternoon when the unprecedented approval of the budget bill on second reading and suspension of session were done.

"Many of us were objecting at the top of our voices but again, we were muted on Zoom and all our objections were thrown out the window," Atienza said.

This happened amid the squabble over the term-sharing agreement between incumbent Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco.

The suspension of session in the Lower House meant that there will be no formal venue for the anticipated change of leadership on October 14. -NB, GMA News