The Senate is fundamentally a game of numbers and alliances.
Currently, the upper chamber has a razor-thin majority of 13 and an 11-member minority.
The majority’s slim advantage is increasingly under strain as two of its members are unable to participate in Senate sessions because of legal troubles.
Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is nowhere to be seen, dodging an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity tied to Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war. If apprehended, he faces detention at the ICC facility in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada is currently detained for plunder and graft cases, effectively preventing him from attending the session in the plenary.
