Senate in exile
Minority says physical presence matters, all while The Hague, somewhere near Uranus, can explain a warrant online, hack our national agenda, and affect who gets to function inside the Senate.
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Minority says physical presence matters, all while The Hague, somewhere near Uranus, can explain a warrant online, hack our national agenda, and affect who gets to function inside the Senate.
Now the fight is over online voting in the Senate. People screaming. Walking out. Very oppressed.
“Tyranny of the majority!”
“They’re doing this for Bato!”
Unfortunately for everybody’s blood pressure, Bato is a senator, isn’t he? Very hard concept: senators vote.
Minority says physical presence matters, all while The Hague, somewhere near Uranus, can explain a warrant online, hack our national agenda, and affect who gets to function inside the Senate.
Spare us the incense.
During Covid, courts operated remotely. Schools. Governments. People got married online. Divorced online. People ruined their lives in e-sabong. We trust online banking with our money; TikTok with our children’s brain cells.
But senators voting online, in extraordinary circumstances?
Six senators in peril of arrest is extraordinary. Bato, Jinggoy, Villanueva, Chiz, Boy Villar. Perhaps Robinhood, too.
If we’re going to talk about what is “sacred,” the sacred thing is the mandate.
If you arrest the senator before conviction, scare him into hiding, trap him outside the chamber, then say, “Sorry, your people lose their vote,” then you are not punishing the senator anymore.
They keep saying “presence.” We keep saying “representation.” Guess which one actually came from the people?
The opposition wants to make this about Bato because Bato is easy to hate. Fine. Put his face on a dartboard, very therapeutic. Arrest the body if the law requires it. But don’t argue that the mandate goes to jail, too.
The people voted once. They should not lose twice. If representation matters, then the institution must find ways for representation. Online voting may even be protecting democratic continuity.
For the country, six senators in legal peril is a democratic problem. For Alan, Bato hiding, Jinggoy, Joel? That is Alan’s number.
If we’re in their position, we’d at least be asking ourselves very uncomfortable questions. You stuck your neck out for this coalition, now you’re exposed.
Thoughts enter the bloodstream eventually. Maybe Jinggoy: “If I get arrested or politically damaged, will this coalition still protect me?”
Alan Peter may actually be most vulnerable not to the opposition, but to private depression in his bloc.
Because you need enough senators present in the chamber before it can legally act. That is quorum. Entire minority walks out, Bato absent, no quorum. No quorum, no session. No vote. No power.
The majority needs a quorum to move. The minority can kill the quorum by leaving.
But by walking out, the opposition accidentally proved online voting’s strongest argument: The Senate can be shut down just by removing bodies from the floor.
Sara, wherever she is, probably can’t believe her luck. Because now the whole country is talking about a quorum instead of impeachment. Talking about Bato. Pia. Alan. Lapid. The unbelievable Senate TV. Action. Suspense. Thriller. Romance. Horror. Family drama. You got Bato hiding in the Senate. Then a shooting incident. Pia crying. And out of nowhere Lito Lapid: “I love you.”
Everybody else fighting for power. Lito fighting for love. Different king entirely. “Tyranny of the majority!” He finally speaks and starts tyranny of the heart.
The first sign of life from this man. After being invisible through everything. Senators thought maybe the Senate inherited him with the building.
Ever notice when your house has a leaky roof, suddenly your father starts talking about the gate, your mother is crying in the kitchen, the family dog disappears, and by midnight nobody fixed the roof?
The roof is leaking badly. Big leak. And Alan, sick genius Alan, chaos floor leader Alan, got everybody talking about the gate.
Housing is probably the biggest issue affecting people the world over.
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