It is a truth commonly acknowledged nowadays that the current Senate has deteriorated to such an extent that it has lost the esteem of the public.

And, having decisively lost the public’s respect, no one sane would be willing to defend the august institution with some degree of fervor.

Harsh though that diagnosis may be — which some would surely disagree with — we can, however, agree that many are frustrated, if not disenchanted, with the upper chamber.

It’s a general mood perfectly summed up in recent days by the ceaseless tirades against some overly partisan senators shamelessly pushing an unacceptable agenda — in all manner of insidious ways — of not wanting to hold the Vice President accountable and totally disregarding their constitutional duty to do so.

As I write this, there is no way to predict if the Senate will stay its present course or heed the increasingly loud public demand–-accentuated by threats of massive public disturbance — to immediately proceed to the constitutionally mandated trial.

In any event, the point is that the Senate must pull itself out of the whirlwind of irrelevancy and insolvency that it has somehow found itself ensnared in.

The senators, as legal scholar John Mollo once pointed out, must now have the “willingness, if not the courage, to protect” the fragile chamber from being sucked further into this whirlwind of political uncertainties.

Whether or not some of the better senators still have it in them to pull it off remains to be seen in the coming days.

But, considering the mood as it is, cynicism abounds — a not so negligible sentiment since railing against a deteriorating Senate that has been brewing for some time.

So much so that incoming Senator Panfilo Lacson’s forgotten lament that the current Senate has been “invaded” by disrespect, mockery and even buffoonery remains as stinging as when it was first said.

Lacson made the remark after the current senators, except for one, couldn’t retain control of an ill-fated hearing last year which saw former strongman Duterte hijacking it with his trademark curses, outlandish claims, and off-color jokes.

The Senate’s extraordinary silence and diffidence was in stark contrast to Duterte’s subsequent appearance before the House of Representatives where he was immediately put in his place — a striking contrast that led to observations that the Senate had lost its mojo.

The Senate may have been able to live down that more recent embarrassment. But this provided solid proof of the latent weakness of the current senators who abjectly cowered before a spent political power, which in turn tellingly showed that many of the current crop of senators are of generally lower quality and are devoid of personal strengths.

So much so that it was inevitable that many observers have damned the current senators as reprobates compared to the manifest dignity and statesmanship of previous Senates and senators.

With the current Senate “stripped of the formality of statesmanship,” no wonder many could not but express sneering disdain for deviant senators dancing, singing and shedding crocodile tears, and grooming a mustache during a hearing.

By deviating so far from the dignified decorum of past Senates, many are eulogizing the current Senate as not only the retirement haven of aging degenerates but as being the most insignificant in recent memory.

Which brings us to our significant question of the day: Can this sorry excuse of some “Honorables” in the Senate of the 19th Congress ever understand that they have been given another golden opportunity not to fail the Filipino people again?

We do hope the senators in question take that question to heart, if only to show that they aren’t addled, sterile, senile and obsolete.