(UPDATE) MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson called out Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano for attempting to lead the Senate through Facebook livestreams while boycotting its regular sessions.
The Senate is "indeed under attack but by its own leadership," the senator said on Wednesday.
Lacson said Cayetano has been issuing notices suspending sessions and relaying other instructions to staff and subordinates only verbally, ensuring such questionable decisions would "leave no paper trail."
"What a mess! Where else can we find a Senate President who boycotts the regular sessions of a chamber which he is supposed to preside, then delivers speeches on Facebook instead of the Senate floor before his peers so we can interpellate him?" Lacson wrote on X.
He said Cayetano was "ruining" the Senate. "It's become a shame to the Filipino people," Lacson said.
"You're the Senate President, you should set the right and good example. But you're setting a bad example," Lacson added.
Earlier in the day, Sen. Bam Aquino called on members of the majority bloc to return to session to pass important measures as the Senate prepares to adjourn sine die on Wednesday.
He issued the call after the majority failed to attend the plenary session on Tuesday or for the second straight day, disrupting the Senate’s work on several vital measures and other legislative matters.
Congress adjourns sine die on June 6. The Senate and House of Representatives will hold joint session on July 27 for the State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
It is just "one more day" before the Senate session ends, the senator said in making his appeal to the majority group. Aquino is with the minority bloc.
“Kailangan na nating bumalik sa session hall ng Senado at magtrabaho para sa bayan (We need to go back to the Senate session hall and work for the nation),” Aquino said.
The minority bloc on Tuesday sought the resignation of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano for "dereliction of duty" after he has not opened the session since Monday.
Aquino said that while senators from majority and minority blocs have varying political views, they all "share a responsibility to serve the public and safeguard the nation’s future."