Vacancy, Absences may Affect Work at Senate

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said on Monday the vacancy and absences in the upper chamber could affect its capability to decide on critical constitutional issues.

Enrile was referring to the vacancy left behind by former Sen. Benigno S. Aquino III who won in the May 10 presidential election and the absence of detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and fugitive Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson reduced the number of senators from 24 to 21.

With the on-again, off-again presence of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago because of her thyroid and heart problems, the effective number of Senate members is down to 20, he said.

“We normally operate on the basis of majority rule unless the Constitution says otherwise in case of impeachment, you need 16 senators and in the ratification of treaties . . . that is a settled number in the quorum of the Senate,’’ Enrile said.

He replied in the affirmative to the question of whether there is a need for a quorum in case there is a selection of a new Senate President.

Asked if a quorum exists among those present in a plenary session, Enrile said that is not the case “because the Constitution says a majority of all members of the Senate, the membership is 24 and three fourths of all the members is 16.’’

On the Lacson case, Enrile said he doubts whether President Benigno S. Aquino could interfere in the case because it is in the hands of the judicial branch.

Lacson fled in January just before a Manila regional trial court (RTC) could issue an arrest warrant arising from the 2000 Dacer-Corbito double murder case in Cavite.

Enrile stressed that his directive last week cutting off the P36,000 monthly salary of Lacson and his office budget of some P2 million a month was a result of a consensus among senators who belong to the minority and majority blocs.

The staff of Lacson had been placed under the Senate secretary to avert their joining the ranks of the unemployed.

This decision came after the Commission on Audit asked whether it was legal for Lacson to receive his pay and his office budget without his signing for the fund disbursement by the Senate.

Enrile had allowed Lacson to keep on getting his salary because “we thought in the beginning that he would come back…if you remember it said before June 30 I thought he’d be coming back because evidently, there was a problem because the court denied his request for the reinvestigation of the case.’’

“To be fair to Senator Lacson, I’ve studied his case and I have my own notion as a lawyer about the strength of the case against him. I think that based on my own knowledge of criminal law on evidence, if I were to handle his case, I will have a fair chance of acquitting him,’’ he said.

“We wanted to be sympathetic and fair to a colleague in the Senate …it is our responsibility to the Filipino people and to the laws of the country to see to it that we will not in any way violate the laws. We have to do our obligation to the country and to do our obligation to the institution what we represent,’’ he said.

Mario Casayuran, Manila Bulletin