Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has stepped up to fill the budget duties left unattended by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who has not appeared in Senate sessions since November 11.
On Tuesday, December 3, Gatchalian presented Dela Rosa’s suggested amendments for several agencies.
To recall, in a radio interview on Monday, December 1, Gatchalian said that the “no work, no pay” principle does not apply to senators who fail to attend sessions.
“Sa alam ko sa senators walang ganyan eh na ‘no work, no pay.’ Sa pagkaalam ko ah, walang ganyan na application, kaya dapat nga magpadala ng excuse letter kung bakit ‘di ka makakapasok, kung ano ang nagiging problema para matignan kung ano ang estado mo,” he said.
(As far as I know, there is no such thing as ‘no work, no pay’ among senators. As far as I know, there is no such application, so you should send an excuse letter explaining why you can’t get in, what the problem is, so we can check your status.)
He added that Dela Rosa did not file any formal excuse for his absence from the budget defense of the Department of National Defense (DND) and its attached agencies.
However, he said that he only received a text message from the senator’s staff asking him to take over the agencies assigned to Dela Rosa.
“Actually, sa Committee on Finance, walang official na sulat na ipinadala si Senator Bato. Natanggap ko lang ang mensahe ng kanyang staff na hindi siya makakadalo kaya kung pwedeng ako nalang ang mag defend ng budget,” he added.
(Actually, in the Committee on Finance, no official letter was sent to Senator Bato. I just received a message from his staff that he would not be able to attend, so if possible, I will be the one to defend the budget.)
Dela Rosa was noticeably absent during the Senate plenary budget deliberations, where proposed amendments for several government agencies were presented.
