The Marcos administration has breached the separation of powers by meddling in the Senate’s business over the dispute over remote sessions and online voting, Senator Imee Marcos said on Friday. 

“These are clear incursions into the constitutional boundaries between the executive and the legislative. It seems the intent is to paralyze us because they are afraid of what a real Blue Ribbon investigation will reveal,” Marcos asserted. “They want to render us powerless so that the Senate will become a rubber stamp for their plans.”

Marcos’ statement came shortly after his estranged brother, President Marcos Jr., weighed in on the hotly contested issue in the Senate on whether to allow lawmakers to attend sessions and cast their vote via videoconference, or without being physically present in the Senate hall.

President Marcos strongly opposed the proposal being pushed by the majority bloc led by Senate President Alan Cayetano and his allies, including Senator Marcos. The Chief Executive argued that the effort was deliberately designed to allow Senator Bato dela Rosa to participate in congressional sessions despite his continued evasion of an International Criminal Court warrant. 

Where loyalty lies

The 13-member majority is mostly comprised of lawmakers allied with the Vice President Sara Duterte, who has been critical of the administration.

President Marcos suggested that Dela Rosa, whom he called a “fugitive from justice,” should not be given leeway by allowing him to participate in sessions unless he is physically present to work. 

This drew the ire of Senator Marcos, with whom he had a bitter falling out, and has since allied herself with the anti-administration, like the Dutertes.

The lawmaker from Ilocos Norte has no qualms about criticizing the President, who is also a former senator, for his alleged interference in the Senate’s internal affairs. 

She implied that the administration is “obviously” targeting the majority bloc in the Senate by persecuting some of her peers, such as Dela Rosa and Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who was ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan on Friday over his purported involvement in the kickback scheme in flood control projects.