MANILA – Senate President Vicente Sotto III lectured neophyte Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa following the latter’s statement on the voting of Senate Resolution 337, which seeks Supreme Court’s clarity on the Senate’s role on Visiting Forces Agreement termination.
Sotto said that Dela Rosa still needs more time to learn about the mandate that has been vested upon him as an elected senator, which is different from being a follower of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Later on, he will realize that being a senator is different than being just a follower of the administration,” Sotto said. “Minsan kasi, pagka you are a fledgling senator, you will probably have, you will need more time to get the in’s and out’s.”
Dela Rosa, along with fellow Duterte allies Christopher “Bong” Go, Imee Marcos, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Bong Revilla, Francis Tolentino, and Cynthia Villar voted Monday in abstention, while 12 others voted in favor of the resolution.
After the voting, Dela Rosa made a statement that some of them were feeling like being the “minority” in the chamber.
“On the political side of it, majority against minority, so dapat majority lagi ang dapat mananalo. But we were not able to get the majority vote so meaning, kami na ang minority ngayon sa Senado. Hindi na kami ang majority,” Dela Rosa said.
Sotto said that Dela Rosa’s reaction could be the normal thinking of any newbie in the institution.
“We are all senators, whether we are in the majority or in the minority, we are an officer or not, pare-pareho kaming mga senators. Tigi-tig-isang boto kami, ganun ‘yun,” he added.
“Hindi naise-seminar ‘yun, natututunan lang ‘yun. Mas madali nga lang kung ikaw ay nanggaling sa let’s say sa isang local government legislative body, or nanggaling ka sa House of Representatives, pagdating sa Senate, alam mo na lahat ‘yan. Pero siyempre, pag galing ka sa Executive department, medyo iba ang dating sa iyo,” he further said./PN
