The Senate is seeking to regain momentum after a 28-day leadership row that disrupted plenary work, delayed committee hearings and affected key appointments, with Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian saying Thursday the chamber will now shift back to legislation and impeachment preparations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBabawiin naman natin ‘yan in the next few days (We will make up for that in the next few days). So we\u2019ll go back to work,\u201d Gatchalian said in a press briefing.<\/p>\n
Gatchalian said the Senate spends about PHP24 million to PHP25 million a day to operate, including expenses for personnel, offices, facilities and other daily requirements of the institution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, kinompute namin ang budget ng Senado per day is about PHP24 million (Well, we computed the Senate\u2019s daily budget at about PHP24 million), almost PHP25 million, just to operate the Senate,\u201d Gatchalian said noting that the cost becomes harder to justify when legislative work is disrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if you count those days, those are the days na naging unproductive. Kaya nasabi ko nga in one of our press cons na sayang ang pera na ibinabayad ng tao sa sweldo, sa kuryente (that became unproductive. That is why I said in one of our press conferences that the people\u2019s money for salaries and electricity was wasted),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier estimated that at least PHP700 million in taxpayers\u2019 money was wasted during the 28 days of turmoil under former Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.<\/p>\n
Lacson said the period was marked by a shooting incident inside the Senate, the escape of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa while under Senate \u201cprotective custody,\u201d a session boycott, a failed destabilization attempt and unauthorized committee hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Philippine Senate in 28 days under Alan Peter Cayetano: Estimated Cost – PHP700M. Output – chaos, gunfire, Bato\u2019s escape despite ICC-issued warrant while under its \u2018protective custody,\u2019 session boycott, failed destabilization attempt, unauthorized committee hearings highlighted by one not presided nor attended by a single senator. What a waste of taxpayers’ money!\u201d Lacson said in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Despite the costly impasse, Lacson said the election of Gatchalian as Senate President, along with other Senate officers and committee chairpersons, gives the chamber a chance to start over.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a fresh start. And I hope everybody will cooperate, including the members of the minority,\u201d Lacson said. (PNA) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ayon kay Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, nakatuon na ngayon ang kapulungan sa pagbawi ng oras at pagpapatuloy ng trabaho.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t