Senators bound for personal travel abroad are under no obligation to clear their trips with the Senate leadership, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said, addressing questions that arose after two colleagues left the country this week.
Zubiri identified health as the reason behind the overseas trips taken by Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Pia Cayetano. The distinction he drew was procedural: travel authority is required only for official business, not for private matters, meaning neither senator was bound to notify the Senate president beforehand.
The clarification followed confirmation from the Bureau of Immigration on Thursday, September 10, that both senators had exited the Philippines. The agency said its records showed no hold departure orders or derogatory findings against either lawmaker at the time they left, so nothing legally stood in the way of their departure. Citing the Data Privacy Act of 2012, immigration officials would not disclose the siblings’ destination, itinerary, or expected return.
The confirmation came after images circulating online placed the two in Singapore. Rappler reported that a separate social media claim alleged Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, Alan’s wife, had flown there early Thursday. Suspended lawyer Jesus Falcis, who first surfaced the reports, said the senators boarded a Singapore Airlines flight out of Ninoy Aquino International Airport the previous evening.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, long at odds with Alan Cayetano, said the departure did not trouble him and urged the public to let the senator step away from the pressures he was facing. “If it’s simply health-related, I sincerely wish him well despite our animosities,” Lacson said.
The timing has drawn attention because the National Bureau of Investigation is preparing to recommend that the Department of Justice pursue charges tied to alleged irregularities in the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, an event whose organizing committee Alan Cayetano chaired. Earlier this year, Lacson turned over to the Ombudsman what he described as evidence of anomalies in Taguig flood control projects connected to the same senator, allegations Cayetano has rejected.
