If anyone still believed the Philippine Senate had reached rock bottom, the May 25 session suggested there was, in fact, a trapdoor beneath the floor.
The chamber has long possessed a flair for political theater.
Older Filipinos will recall the infamous episode involving the Senate mace, the symbolic emblem of the institution’s authority, hidden during a leadership struggle as senators maneuvered like quarrelsome courtiers in a fading monarchy. There were near fistfights, melodramatic walkouts, and privilege speeches crafted less for legislation than for evening news clips.
Yet even by those diminished standards, the spectacle that unfolded this week marked a fresh descent.
The presentation of an openly partisan and highly opinionated video inside what senators still describe as an “august chamber” was itself unbecoming. More troubling was the refusal of Senator Imee Marcos to submit to interpellation, the very process that gives parliamentary proceedings their democratic legitimacy. Scrutiny is not an inconvenience to be evaded. It is the essence of deliberation. When an argument cannot withstand questioning, it forfeits its claim to seriousness.
Minority senators were therefore justified in seeking to strike the video from the Senate record and in demanding proof of allegations involving supposed plans to extend term limits or amend the Constitution to prevent Vice President Sara Duterte from seeking the presidency in 2028. The ancient legal maxim “Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat”—the burden of proof lies upon the accuser, not the accused–appears to have been discarded in the age of viral disinformation.
Attempting to ease tensions, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano invoked the phrase “hawak mo ang beat,” a line that lent the proceedings the atmosphere of a variety show rather than a legislative institution. Senator Marcos eventually withdrew the video, though without grace.
But the greater damage had already been done. Pandora’s box had been opened, releasing into public view not merely political animosity but a deeper institutional decay. What remained trapped inside was “Hope” that the Senate might still conduct itself with sobriety, discipline, and intellectual seriousness.
That even the Management Association of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club now feel compelled to call for moral leadership and institutional credibility speaks volumes.
When business leaders begin sounding like guardians of democratic virtue, the Senate should recognize how far it has fallen.
