Begin with the end in view—Stephen Covey, Seven Habits of Effective People
One of the sweetest and pleasant things the Senate does before its session is to require its small choir to sing a kind of prelude before it gets down to serious business. No doubt, it adds solemnity to its sacred performance.
Its current president has also added a new feature to bring further solemnity to what legislators do. Senate President Allan Peter Cayetano also begins the session with an opening prayer. This reverential attitude has endeared APC to many, and also made him a more controversial public figure in light of what haD happened in the Senate in the last week or so. To many, he’s the real deal.
In the last two session days, there were no Senate choir to make a solemn rendition nor was there an opening prayer made. The reason> t was simple: there were no majority bloc of Senators to join the minority bloc. APC wasn’t there at the Senate to lead the group in person. Some said he manifested himself as AI in the ethereal.
Looking back, it was unmistakably a tit-for-tat. Earlier, it was the minority that walked out of the session hall for alleged violation BY THE majority to change the rule on onlinevoting pronto,. given the erosion.
On June 1, the majority bloc failed to attend the session to commiserate with a colleague, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada who was arrested – he said he voluntarily surrendered before thepolice—on account of a warrant of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan for alleged plunder which was not bailable. APC, among other colleagues, escorted the senator all the way to the newly constructed jail in Quezon City. The trip to the jail was a breeze.
It is also notable that, on that day, the lawyers of the Vice President submitted her voluminous replies to the Senate over an impeachment case expcted to take place sometime in July. The absence of APC and the pro-Duterte senators, and the submission of bundles of replies to answer five impeachment charges against Sara Duterte may have only been coincidental. It’s a small world after all. But it added color to the nagging suspicion that the majority senators had what is referred to occasionally as their “queen” in mind.
But a prominent business leader in Pampanga is bothered by what’s happening in the Senate. As many see IT , like businessman Rene Romero does, the king of grime busters in our neck of the woods,things don’t add up. How could APC say the Senate was under attack when it was the sergeant-at-arms who fired the first shot, which he was not supposed to do? How could APC allowed a senator who was facing a warrant of arrest for crime against humanity issued by the International Criminal Court and coddled him in the Senate to prevent a lawful arrest, and then let him out – escape the wife texted, while the Senate was allegedly under attack?
Hmmn. President Bongbong Marcos has a different idea. What he saw was horror. The police said so. The National Bureau of Investigation NBI) said so. The video footage showed so: a wanted senator falling on his knees at the stairway while running away from NBI agents. The senator is now a fugitive. A senator is now being investigated for aiding the escape.
With Senator Estrada in jail, who was previously declared “safe by another senator of the same political color the Senate is now evenly split , a tie between the majority and minority blocs at 11 all. More senators may also find themselves facing charges in connection with flood control corruption. This means the Senate equation may tilt in favor of the minority. Don’t forget PBBM had promised to jail flood control corrupt officials before Christmas last year. This time, it appears that he really means business with the arrest of “the bad one”. Better late than never.
This hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of APC to hold on to the Senate leadership. The numbers, even if potentially on the way down, are not a cause for worry. To be outnumbered is not to be outgunned. He looked forward further ahead. There could be promised land beckoning flowing with milk and honey.
Looking ahead at the impending impeachment game, the Senate will have to pass the threshold to consequently disqualify the vice president from the 2028 presidential election. You see, the Senate needs 16 senator-judges votes to convict the vice president. You need 9 votes to acquit her.
In the political and legal calculus of APC and his kindred senators, they know they have the advantage.a eureka. The potential loss of other senators by attrition my dwindle their side but not sufficient enough to run them out of their sanctuary. The administration cannot go the whole hog without losing its credibility, Politics is perception. The boys can always cry wolves. There are legions in and out of social media. And they threaten havoc.
In other words, APC can live without a choir to sing in the Senate. He may have to do away with an opening prayer before a session. The Senate has had no sessions in the last two days. What would it hurt the country if it is to miss the last remaining sessions? Lawmaking be DAMNED.
Former Senator Franklin Drilon has called a spade and spade: the Senate is now useless. Others have called the shameless power grab in the Senate leadership brazen. The Philippines has become not only a domestic embarrassment but an international one. The strident call now from all sectors is for APC to resign.
But APC will not budge, or so it seems. On impeachment day, the prosecution will deliver as it promised: it will be a day of reckoning. The weight of evidence will be overwhelming such that even those who doubted it will fall against it. Besides, all politics is local, according to Deng Shiao Ping.
Don’t forget: impeachment is a numbers game. There’s no 16 votes seen on the horizon to convict the vice president. It’s almost over but the shouting or crying. See you in 2028. As they say, in the long run, China will win.
