THE CHAOS THAT engulfed the Senate premises some weeks ago where then Senate President (SP) Alan Peter Cayetano publicly declared as an attack on the Senate gave the impression that he was the main target, along with his fellow senators, of troublemakers.
But the public could only speculate that he wanted his fellow Duterte-supporter, Sen. Bato de la Rosa, being hunted down to join International Criminal Court jailbird, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, to escape arrest from government authorities.
The truth is he pathetically failed to exercise the appropriate leadership quality expected of him as the highest government official within the senate premises. Worse, he could not muster enough collective unity among his co-senators in the building to get a handle on the confusion that ensued with what was really happening among the crowd outside and inside the building.
BUNGLING LEADERSHIP
Cayetano probably made sure the chaos was the opportune time for his friend, Senator Bato. to be out of his protective custody in the Senate building, with the connivance of another DDS supporter-colleague, Sen. Robinhood Padilla.
What eventually developed from then SP Alan Peter Cayetano’s bungling leadership was a problematic split into a majority bloc and a minority bloc.
The people wondered on who was really in charge in the important legislative work of a vital institution like the Senate, which traditionally serves as a training ground for a future president of the country.
“A pathetic Senate indeed, with a pathetic senate leadership in Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano!” was the widespread remark of the Filipino people. They were seriously concerned with good governance, especially at a time of energy crisis and various resulting problems impacting on the poor and marginalized millions of their countrymen.
RECOGNIZED
In an attempt to be relevant in the eyes of the Filipino people, Alan Peter Cayetano pathetically held a so-called hearing of the flood control mess involving the widespread kickbacks/”pagnanakaw” by senators and congressmen.
Together with his fellow pathetic senators – Pia Cayetano, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Loren Legarda, Robinhood Padilla, Bong Go – Cayetano claimed the official session of the new majority senators led by Acting Senate President (pro tempore) Sherwin Gatchalian was a bogus senatorial plenary session.
Sen. Loren Legarda even dared to declare the plenary session as “unconstitutional.”
However, ex-justices of the Supreme Court and other known lawyers, as well as the Congressmen-Prosecutors in the Impeachment Court to try the betrayer of public trust, VP Sara Duterte, had publicly declared the Gatchalian-led plenary session as valid, and documented in the Senate records.
No less than President Bongbong’s administration officially recognized the Gatchalian-led bloc as legitimate, and its sessions considered official, unlike the so-called Senate committee hearing on the flood control mess presided by Alan Peter Cayetano, and attended by his sister, Pia Cayetano, and other senators allied with him.
PATHETIC SP
The Cayetano meeting included the alleged 18 (ex-) marines testifying about delivering “maletas” or paper bags filled with millions of pesos, as kickbacks to senators and congressmen (clearly identified as anti-Duterte, having consistently pushed for the impeachment of VP Sara Duterte for betraying his oath as a public official with her violation of the constitution and various crimes against the people).
In any case, with the topsy-turvy goings-on in a senate led by a pathetic Senate president, there is hope things will stabilize with the new majority led by Acting SP Sherwin Gatchalian.
Indeed, the Filipino people are resilient enough to keep hoping the corrupt among the senators, congressmen and especially the arrogant VP Sara Duterte, will be held accountable for their sins against the Filipino people.
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