Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson fired back at Senator Pia Cayetano after the latter broke down in tears on the Senate floor, lamenting that no one from the minority bloc had checked on the majority senators in the aftermath of the May 13 shooting inside the Senate building.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Lacson quoted Cayetano’s emotional statement — “No one checked on us!” — and turned it on its head. “How could you even check on people who seemed happily eating, drinking coffee, and even going on Facebook Live, while accusing the minority bloc of supposedly knowing something about the gunfires in the Senate?” he wrote.
The remark was a pointed reference to circulating images and videos of majority senators — including Pia Cayetano — going on Facebook Live during the incident to claim they were “under attack,” while appearing composed. Online users noted the contrast between Cayetano sipping coffee with latte art in what appeared to be a well-appointed office setting and her later claim of having been terrified during the incident. The Philippine National Police later determined that no “attack” had occurred.
Cayetano’s tears came after Senator Risa Hontiveros delivered a privilege speech on the Senate floor, criticizing the leadership for acting as if nothing had happened since the May 13 shooting incident. Taking the floor in response, a visibly shaken Cayetano said: “Maybe for those of you who were not here, it may seem that nothing happened. But for those of us who were here, a lot happened. I was very scared, so scared that I felt I had to say goodbye to my children.”
She also expressed frustration that no one from the minority had reached out — a claim Senator Erwin Tulfo disputed, saying senators from both blocs had exchanged messages through a shared WhatsApp group.
Lacson had earlier defended the minority bloc against allegations that its members left the Senate premises early on the night of May 13 because they had prior knowledge of an impending NBI operation against Senator Ronald Dela Rosa. “It is an unfair and malicious insinuation that we in the minority bloc went home early and left them behind because we knew something would happen,” he said.
According to Senate logs shared by GMA News, most members of the minority bloc left the Senate between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., with Lacson himself exiting around half an hour before gunshots were fired at approximately 7:45 p.m.
The shooting erupted amid the presence of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa inside the Senate building, where he had taken refuge since May 11 under the protection of the new Senate leadership following a coup that installed Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president. Dela Rosa faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
