Majority senators absent as Jinggoy Estrada arrested for plunder

The Senate held no session on Monday after members of the majority skipped the proceedings following the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in connection with the plunder case he is facing over alleged congressional insertions and kickbacks tied to anomalous flood control projects.

Only members of the minority were at the session hall on Monday by 5 p.m., when the session was supposed to start according to the adjournment on May 26.

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano went to Camp Crame, where Estrada was taken to be processed after the police took him into custody.

Estrada said he surrendered while Interior Secretary Juanito Victor "Jonvic" Remulla said the senator was arrested.

As of late afternoon, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, a member of the minority, said he asked the Senate secretary and was told there was no notice from majority senators as regards their attendance.

The minority senators waited until past 7 p.m.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian raised the prospect of an ethics complaint after the minority also left.

"Well, 'yun ang pinag-uusapan namin ngayon, but definitely may violation. Hindi pwedeng basta-bastang kinacancel ang session nang walang abiso sa majority at minority," said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian when asked if they were planning to file a complaint.

"Unang -una, violation of the rules ito dahil hindi naman pwedeng isuspindi at i-cancel ang session na walang consultation with the majority," he added.

Zubiri said there were pending matters about the promotion to star rank of senior military officers, while Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan said there were also the bills on the Filipino citizenship of athletes being recruited to the national team.

In a statement early Monday night, Cayetano asked the 11-member minority bloc to “uphold the Senate’s independence,” following Estrada's surrender.

“To my colleagues in the Minority: The Senate is a co-equal branch of government. It is not a prize to be claimed by anyone. Events of the past few days may have blurred this distinction, but what happened with one of our colleagues today brings it sharply back into focus,” Cayetano wrote in a statement.

“So I put one question to you, not as the Majority but as the chamber: will you stand for the Senate’s independence?” he added.

According to Cayetano, he acknowledges the difference in leadership between the majority and the minority bloc but said that such matters were the Senate’s business.

“But no matter our disagreements, we must all agree that it is the Senate’s own business to settle. This chamber answers to God and the people who sent us here, and to no one outside these walls,” Cayetano said.

On Tuesday, the Senate minority bloc walked out of the plenary after the proposed amendment to its rules to allow senators to participate remotely in sessions was raised.

Apart from upholding Senate independence, Cayetano called on the minority to join them in "resisting allowing partisan politics to dictate the chamber’s direction.”

“The door is open. What you do with it is yours to answer — to this institution, and to the people watching it,” Cayetano said at the end of this statement.

Agenda stalled

According to Sandra Aguinaldo’s report on “24 Oras”, Pangilinan and Zubiri said there are pending business at the Senate that need to be acted upon.

“We have two third reading bills here today, or three. And two of them happened to be citizenship bills for our Philippine teams,” said Zubiri.

“Mahalaga dito yung sa CA kasi meron palang mga generals that are up for promotion, na darating na yung birthday nila. Kung hindi magko-convene yung CA, kawawa naman sila. Naapektuhan pa yung promotion nila,” he added.

(The matter regarding the CA (Commission on Appointments) is important because there are actually generals up for promotion whose birthdays are coming up. If the CA does not convene, it would be unfair to them. Their promotions are being affected.)

“Mayroon kaming dalawang third reading (We have two bills for third reading)…kay Matthew Ramos at Bennie Boatwright for citizenship, scheduled today and they’re here,” said Pangilinan.

When asked how long they will wait, Zubiri said: “As long as it takes, we’ll wait.”

For his part, Senator Raffy Tulfo lamented the absence of their colleagues from the majority, noting that ordinary workers face penalties over their absences.

“Kung ang ordinary government employee suspendido, sisante kapag hindi pumasok…Kapag kami, ganun-ganun lang? Kami walang penalty, violation?” he told reporters.

(If ordinary government employees are suspended or fired when they fail to show up for work... when it comes to us, is it just easily dismissed? We face no penalties or violation?)

“Sana mahiya naman sila (I hope they will feel ashamed). I mean, you are paying us, our salaries. Then you will not come to work?” he added.–NB, GMA News