The Senate minority bloc defended its walkout from Tuesday’s plenary session, saying the move forced the chamber to follow its own rules amid a heated push to allow remote participation and voting in Senate proceedings.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the minority bloc, which includes Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Senators Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Erwin Tulfo, and Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, showed that “retreat” could still result in victory when the rules were on their side.
“Senate minority walkout: we demonstrated how to score a victory by retreating. They may have superior numbers but we have the rules on our side,” Lacson said in a post on X.
The dispute centered on a motion filed on May 11 seeking to amend Senate rules to allow senators, for justifiable reasons, to attend and participate in sessions through teleconference, video conference, or other remote platforms.
The minority argued that since the motion had already been referred to the Committee on Rules, it should first be acted upon by the panel before being returned to the plenary. However, the committee has yet to be fully constituted following the recent Senate leadership change, raising questions over whether it could validly transmit the matter back to the floor.
Lacson said Rule 24 should apply because matters referred to committees must be discussed, decided, and reported back by the committee concerned. Since the Rules committee still has no chairperson or members, the minority maintained that the proposal could not be rushed to a vote.
Hontiveros also argued that the matter being taken up was effectively a new motion and should be covered by the rule requiring at least one day’s notice before plenary action.
“So, wala pang body na puwedeng ibalik yung motion ni Sen. Marcoleta sa plenary,” Hontiveros said, adding that proper notice should have been given before the chamber could tackle the matter.
Tension rose after Sen. Rodante Marcoleta questioned Hontiveros’ supposed lack of legal background in interpreting the rules. Tulfo objected to the remark, calling it improper and ad hominem.
“Hindi po tama yan na sabihin na ang kasama niya ay walang alam sa batas,” Tulfo said.
The session was briefly suspended to ease the confrontation.
The minority also criticized the move to “divide the house,” or put the matter to a vote, while debates were still ongoing. Lacson said the attempt to force a vote showed the majority wanted to end the discussion despite unresolved procedural questions.
“When your arguments fail, you want to end the debate because you have no rule to stand on,” Lacson said in a radio interview.
The bloc also alleged that the majority used delaying tactics earlier in the session, including prolonging interpellations on a separate measure, before moving late in the day to tackle the controversial rules amendment.
Lacson said minority senators were informed only late Tuesday that the remote participation proposal would be taken up, which they said violated the required notice period.
The walkout, led on the floor by Zubiri, eventually left the chamber without a quorum. The session was later adjourned until June 1.