THE Senate minority bloc accused on Monday, June 1, 2026, the chamber’s majority group of abandoning its legislative duties after several senators, including Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, failed to attend the resumption of plenary session as they accompanied arrested Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
In a statement, the minority group, which calls itself “Solid Bloc 11,” said its members were present and prepared to conduct Senate business when the session was scheduled to resume at 5 p.m. on June 1, but claimed the majority bloc did not show up and failed to inform them that the chamber would not convene.
“This is not Senate independence but a boycott of duty,” the bloc said.
“Let us focus on the work, because the Senate has serious business before it, and if the majority wants to protest, deliver privilege speeches or defend its position, the proper place to do that is on the floor, not by making the chamber stand still,” they added.
The minority said several measures were left pending because of the failure to hold session, including the proposed Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, the Anti-Hospital Detention Bill, confirmation proceedings before the Commission on Appointments, and bills seeking to grant Philippine citizenship to Bennie Boatwright III and Matthew James Ramos.
They maintained that the institution belongs to the public and should continue functioning despite political disagreements.
According to the bloc, the majority’s absence was an attempt to frame legal proceedings against Estrada as an attack on the Senate, a characterization it strongly disputed.
“Let us call this for what it is: the claim that this is about Senate independence is false, because what happened today was about the rule of law, public accountability and a lawful process before the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan that no senator, no bloc and no presiding officer controls,” the minority said.
“This is a boycott because of the arrest of Senator Jinggoy Estrada, and the public should not be asked to believe another convenient line from a leadership that has repeatedly twisted the truth,” it added.
Cayetano, along with majority Senators Imee Marcos, Rodante Marcoleta and Camille and Mark Villar, accompanied Estrada at the headquarters of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Camp Crame following his arrest at the Senate complex on Monday afternoon.
The absence of key majority senators prevented the chamber from proceeding with its scheduled business. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)