Drilon hits ‘bastusan’ in remote voting push

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon on Wednesday warned against what he called the “tyranny of the majority” after the Senate majority bloc moved to amend rules to allow senators to vote remotely.

Drilon said the proposed rule change is directly tied to the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte and could undermine theand independence of the Senate.

“It is now connected to the impeachment trial,” Drilon said.

According to Drilon, the amendment could affect crucial rulings during the impeachment proceedings if senators facing detention or hiding from arrest are still allowed to vote remotely.

He cited a possible subpoena involving the bank records of the Vice President as one example.

“Halimbawa, yung bank record ni Vice President. Kung humingi ng subpoena ang prosecution at hindi payagan ng presiding officer tapos i-appeal sa impeachment court, kailangan makakuha siya ng support ng majority kaya very crucial ito kaya minamadali,” Drilon said.

Drilon said Sen. Erwin Tulfo was correct in “calling a spade a spade” when Tulfo said the amendment was meant to accommodate senators who may soon face detention over alleged plunder cases.

“This is ugly. I have never seen this kind of bastusan in the history of the Senate,” Drilon said. “This is malicious and grave abuse of discretion I have never seen in the history of the Senate. It must be condemned.”

“Patay na ang malayang diskurso sa Senado,” Drilon declared.

Drilon said the proposed amendment was first presented on May 11, but Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri objected.

The former Senate president said the Senate President then said the matter would first be studied by the Committee on Rules.

However, Drilon said Sen. Rodante Marcoleta moved during Tuesday’s session to have the amendment approved even though the Rules Committee had not yet been formally constituted.

“The minority objected on the ground that the amendment had already been referred to the Committee on Rules which had not yet been constituted,” said Drilon.

Drilon said the majority, particularly Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, insisted that the amendment could still be taken up under Section 136, paragraph 2 of the Senate Rules instead of through a formal committee report.

He said Cayetano then asked for a division of the house to determine whether the body could take up the amendment.

Drilon said the division of the house, as proposed by Cayetano, was supposed to determine only the propriety of taking up the amendment and not yet the motion to approve the amendment itself.

He said the minority walked out to prevent the majority from “ramming the amendment down their throats” because “things could still get uglier.”

“Sa aming kasaysayan, ito ay tyranny of the majority,” Drilon said. “That was the only way to prevent the tyranny of the majority.”