MANILA, Philippines – The Senate minority walked out on Tuesday, May 26, after a heated debate over Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s motion to allow senators to participate in plenary sessions online.

Marcoleta filed the motion two weeks earlier, on Monday, May 11, seeking to allow senators to join sessions remotely under “justifiable” circumstances.

The proposal comes over two weeks since Alan Peter Cayetano was installed as Senate president and the reappearance of Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa — who has been evading an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court — at the Senate to vote for Cayetano.

Members of the minority bloc questioned the “rushed” process to amend the Senate rules.

“We strongly condemn what appears to be an attempt to rush a major change in the Senate Rules, especially when several members of the minority still wanted to speak and raise serious questions on the floor,” the Senate minority said in a joint statement.

“We walked out because what happened on the floor looked less like orderly deliberation. The proposed rule change affects how senators may attend sessions, participate in proceedings and exercise their mandate through remote means, and such a measure should be opened to healthy public debate instead of being rushed by the tyranny of the majority,” they added.

The Senate minority also wondered aloud why the process was being “fasttracked.”

“Minamadali ba ang rule change na ito dahil gusto nilang maka boto si Senator Bato? At ngayong may mga ulat na may mga majority senators na maaaring arestuhin?” they asked

(Is the rule change being fasttracked because they want Senator Bato to be able to vote. And there are reports that some majority senators may be arrested?)

Senator Kiko Pangilinan accusing the majority bloc of “railroading” the amendments to the Senate rules.

Cayetano later moved to put the issue to a vote but the minority members began walking out of the plenary hall. Without a quorum, the motion could not be voted upon.

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, who was presiding over the session, later acted on a motion to adjourn the session, which will resume on Monday, June 1. – Rappler.com