Minority bloc senators abandoned the plenary on Monday evening after waiting roughly two hours for their majority counterparts, who failed to appear for a scheduled session at the Senate.
The 11 minority members gathered in the session hall and waited for the majority bloc until 7 p.m., about two hours past the session’s scheduled start. As they waited, Senator Raffy Tulfo claimed the airconditioning had been switched off and the WiFi connection cut inside the chamber. He described both as deliberate.
The senators ultimately left after Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano issued a statement addressed to the minority, urging them to stand for what he called the independence of the Senate.
The majority bloc’s failure to attend fell on the same day Senator Jinggoy Estrada was arrested on plunder and bribery charges tied to alleged corruption in flood control projects.
According to the minority, the boycott left several measures stalled, among them the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, the Anti-Hospital Detention Bill, the confirmation of generals before the Commission on Appointments, and citizenship bills for Bennie Boatwright III and Matthew James Ramos. The session had been intended to take up amendments to the chamber’s rules on electronic voting. With the standoff, the Senate is now described as evenly divided at 11-11.
