Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Friday said the Senate must now “do what is right” and work to restore public trust and dignity following the controversy surrounding last Wednesday’s shooting incident inside the Senate complex.
Lacson said the incident damaged the image of the Senate both locally and internationally, adding that senators should avoid further political accusations and focus instead on fulfilling their constitutional duties.
“We landed in the international news for the wrong reasons. It was ugly — the shooting in the Philippine Senate as breaking news,” Lacson said in an interview over True FM.
“So it is time to recover. The word Senate stems from the word ‘senatus,’ meaning wise, mature men. Moving forward, we must do what is right and not show immaturity that will worsen the situation,” he added.
The senator said one positive development was the announcement of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano that the Senate would convene as an impeachment court for the case against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Lacson said the Constitution clearly requires the Senate to immediately convene into an impeachment court once it receives the Articles of Impeachment from the House of Representatives.
“That’s one good first step because it is clear in the Constitution,” he said.
Lacson also rejected what he described as “unfair and malicious insinuations” from some senators suggesting that members of the minority bloc left the Senate early because they supposedly knew beforehand that something would happen that night.
“It is an unfair and malicious insinuation that we in the minority bloc went home early and left them behind because we knew something would happen,” Lacson said.
“That is quite far from the truth. There is no basis for that because no one knew what would happen that night,” he added.
Asked who made the insinuations, Lacson identified Cayetano and Sen. Imee Marcos.
He also criticized claims allegedly suggesting that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the arrest of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa “at all cost.”
“Categorically, no. Such instructions would be impossible,” Lacson said.
“If they were true, the Senate would have been assaulted and there would be casualties. It is quite far from the truth,” he added.
Lacson also questioned statements describing the Senate as being “under attack,” noting that Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms chief Mao Aplasca had admitted firing the first warning shot.
“If you are under attack, the attacker should have fired first. On the contrary, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms had actually admitted to having fired first,” he said.
The senator urged the public to wait for the official investigation results based on CCTV footage, testimonies, and other evidence.
“Let’s just wait for the results of the investigation based on facts,” Lacson said.