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MANILA, Philippines — The Senate failed to resume its session on Monday as the 13-member majority stood up the minority senators, who walked out last week following disagreements over a proposal in the Senate rules to introduce online participation.
The session was called off after some two hours of waiting among the minority senators, and later that evening, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano challenged them on social media to stand as one with the rest of the chamber and “go quiet” in protest of the day’s events.
The majority’s disappearance was prompted in part by the arrest that Monday of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a member of the bloc, amid heated arguments between Cayetano and Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who accompanied the arresting officers of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
The session was set to resume at 5 p.m., but only 11 senators—all belonging to the minority—showed up: Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Francis Pangilinan, Panfilo Lacson, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, Lito Lapid, and Raffy and Erwin Tulfo.
