New Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chair, Sen. Pia Cayetano, on Wednesday broke down in tears after a manifestation by minority Sen. Risa Hontiveros who said that some senators appeared to be complacent as if nothing had happened following the 13 May gunfire incident that led to chaos in the Senate halls.

“Mr. President, it has been nearly a week since the chase and shooting incident here in the Senate. I cannot find peace knowing that since Monday, what we have been showing is… as if nothing happened… as if our institution, our employees, and the Filipino people were not disrespected,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.

She also raised concern over whether the Senate’s reputation had fallen to such a low point because of its political divisions.

“Has our politics in the Philippines really sunk this low? Is this who we are now, Mr. President? Has politics completely distorted our standards in how we treat one another?” she said.

“The situation has fallen so low that here, in and around these same august halls, someone could brandish a gun in front of civilians. Dear colleagues, this has never happened in the Philippines — not even during coup attempts, not even during the darkest days of martial law did gunfire erupt within our halls,” she said.

Hontiveros said the incident inflicted a serious blow to the Senate’s dignity, credibility, and moral authority before the Filipino people.

“And this has frustrated me every day since Wednesday, including in light of the initial findings of the investigation of the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine National Police, which are beginning to reveal several points,” she said.

Sen. Rodante Marcoleta attempted to interpellate Hontiveros, but Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano urged his colleagues not to interrupt but to reset all manifestations and interpellations to Monday, 25 May.

Moments later, Sen. Pia Cayetano raised her hand, went to the podium and recalled that she had been just two doors away from where the gunfire occurred. Then she broke down in tears.

“To say that it seems like nothing had happened is very painful for all of us who were here — the media, the Senate staff, and the security personnel who could not go home,” she said, apparently responding to Hontiveros.

“And one more thing, I am not blaming anyone,” she said.

She also expressed frustration that no one from the previous majority bloc checked on them after the incident.

“When I looked at the Viber group of the former majority, no one even asked how we were. Some of you I have known for 20 years, and I didn’t even hear a simple ‘How are you there?’ It was very painful for me, extremely painful,” she said.

“If you were not here, do not question what those of us here went through. We were here with our staff. You have your own story, I respect that, but respect ours as well,” she sobbed.

Hontiveros later returned to the floor to say that she deeply respected Cayetano’s emotions, but her earlier statement referred to the current state of affairs rather than the senators’ personal experiences.

“It is evident that the violence that breached our halls has profoundly affected all of us, and I don’t doubt the leadership’s personal distress over what transpired. However, when I said it feels like ‘nothing happened,’ I was not referring to personal feelings but to our institutional posture. Our grief as senators is valid, but our mandate requires action,” she said.

To recall, members of the new minority bloc led by Sen. Tito Sotto were accused of knowing about the attempt to sow chaos ahead of time, which supposedly explained why they left the Senate early.

Sen. Erwin Tulfo, however, clarified that they left early because they were not invited to a later meeting which included only members of the new majority bloc.

“So we went home,” Tulfo said.