Lacson blasts Alvarez attack on Senate
SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Monday chided House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez over his recent attacks against the Senate noting that Senators think and act more independently.
Lacson, one of the few senators who reacted to Alvarez’s sudden assault, noted that the Senate works differently from the lower House and nobody could dictate on senators.
“Regarding Speaker Alvarez’s assault on the senate, it is at the very least uncalled for and smacks of unparliamentary conduct,” said Lacson, who is part of the Senate majority bloc.
Alvarez last week criticized the upper chamber for its supposed inability to act on pending bills swiftly, calling the Senate “mabagal angkapulungan” (slow chamber). This incensed Lacson. “We think and act more independently as individuals,” Lacson said. “Nobody, not the Senate president and even the President of the Republic can dictate on us,” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon recently linked the assault of the speaker to efforts to weaken and demean the Senate.
“Our records will show that 413 bills were referred to the Senate by the House in this present Congress. We have acted and approved 116 of them or about 28 percent. So, it is not true that we are sitting on these bills,” Drilon said in an interview.
“You know, this is not my role because I am the minority leader but I am citing this in fairness to the institution that is being attacked. Given all of these, the more I am convinced that there is another agenda,” he said.
“Beyond the criticisms, unfounded as it is, of the pace of the Senate that would act on these measures, I think this is part of the effort para pa ba ba inang tin ginng tao sa Se nado, pa rap ag dating do ons a Charter change, kungi big ni lang bur ah inang Sena dos a pa mahala a nay mad ali na (I think this is part of the effort to on the Senate so that during Charter change discussion, it would be easy to abolish the Senate.”
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, however, dismissed Drilon’s concerns and allayed fears that the chamber will be abolished.
“If we go federal, then we can still be bicameral. So, there’s no worries. The advocacy of the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban is federal. Hence, bicameral. The Senate is still needed as the upper house which will now be the venue for the voices of the regions,” he added.