Senate’s plummeting rating unusual — Sotto

With a recent survey showing that the Senate of the Philippines’ rating is declining, opposition Senator Vicente Sotto III said this had not happened in previous years or in the recent Congress.

“The rating of the Senate has never been this low, much less even lower than the HREP (House of Representatives). Never!” Sotto said in a Viber message to reporters.

Based on the tally of a research survey firm on Tuesday, the Senate’s approval rating for the second quarter was 47 percent, down from its previous 53 percent.

In terms of trust, the Senate’s rating also declined to 49 percent from 57 percent.

To bounce back, Sotto said the Senate should not dwell on controversies and should prioritize the welfare of the Filipino people.

“Para makabawi? Never repeat what happened to the budget last year, and listen more to the cries of our people,” Sotto, the former Senate President, said.

Both houses were hounded by controversies over budget insertions and manipulation for the 2025 National Budget, which led to a decline in public trust in the legislative bodies.

But Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero vehemently denied allegations that the Senate was involved in billions of pesos worth of insertions, calling the allegations a “demolition job” connected to his earlier bid to retain his Senate presidency post.

The Senate leader also protested the circulation of a CCTV video showing him visiting the House of Representatives during the bicameral conference committee deliberations of the proposed 2025 budget last year, stating that the House is trying to portray him in a bad light.

To be fair to the Filipino people, Senator Panfilo Lacson has called for budget process transparency in Congress to resolve the problem of fund insertions in the national budget, a call supported by Senator Loren Legarda.

Senator Sotto said he will move to allow an open bicameral conference to scrutinize all insertions that were not found in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

“With or without the resolution, my group and I will move to allow an open bicameral. Approving the resolution is a plus factor. Sa lahat ng insertions that were not found in the NEP, the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), and the Senate GAB,” Sotto said.