A lawmaker from the House of Representatives of the Philippines on Wednesday described the Senate majority’s push to amend chamber rules to allow remote participation and voting for senators as “unreasonable.”
Antonio Tinio said existing rules in both chambers generally permit teleconferencing only during extraordinary circumstances such as natural disasters or national emergencies.
Tinio argued that the proposed amendment was clearly intended to accommodate Ronald dela Rosa, who is facing an outstanding arrest warrant.
The ACT Teachers Party-list lawmaker also defended the recent walkout staged by the Senate minority bloc, saying it was a legitimate strategy to deny the chamber the required 13 senators needed for quorum.
“Yung minority nagamit naman nila effectively, nagamit yung kanilang numbers, pinakita nila na kahit sila ang minority dahil napaka nipis nito ay kayang mawalan ng quorum kung hindi mag-participate ang minority,” Tinio said.
“Kaya nga nandyan yung rule on quorum, it's precisely to safeguard or a check of the minority against the majority,” he added.
Current and former lawmakers have also raised concerns that the proposed Senate rule changes may be tied to the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Under Senate impeachment rules, a two-thirds vote of all 24 senators is required to convict an impeached official.
Renee Co said the public must closely monitor the proceedings to ensure the impeachment trial remains fair and transparent.
“Nagiging clearer lang na dapat mas maging mapagmatiyag ang mamamayan sa Senate trial, eto po ay dahil kung hindi tayo mapagmatiyag, merong mga gagawing adjustments para at the end of the day ang hindi manaig ay interes ng mamamayan,” Co said.