President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is urging senators to return to work. He made this appeal Wednesday after the Senate failed to hold proceedings for two consecutive days. “This is a serious problem because there are still many important laws that have to be passed,” he said.
“Get back to work,” stated Marcos, simply. “We have so many things to do in the government.”
“The Senate is a mess, and it’s bad for the country,” he remarked. The executive branch and the courts are still functioning, so he is confused as to why the Senate has stopped.
“We need the Senate to work because the government would like to ask Congress for an additional budget,” Marcos added. He also wants to amend several laws so the government can assist Filipinos in coping with rising energy and food prices caused by the war in Iran.
“We cannot help people if the Senate is on vacation,” he said.
The Senate did not work because many senators from the majority bloc did not show up. This came after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was arrested. If there aren’t enough senators in the room, the Senate cannot legitimately have a session.
“We are looking at what we can legally do to fix the problem,” Marcos added. But he conceded only the Senate leaders can fully solve this. “They’ve got to police themselves,” he remarked. “And they are not doing a good job right now.”
