Some majority bloc members were too busy trying to blame the opposition for the recent Senate shooting incident to receive well-wishes, according to Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
The veteran lawmaker’s statement on Thursday serves as a direct rebuttal to Sen. Pia Cayetano, who previously expressed resentment during Wednesday’s plenary session that no colleagues checked on her welfare during the May 13 shooting incident within Senate premises.
“Quote of the day: ‘No one even bothered to check on us!’ How can you check on people who were happily eating, drinking coffee, and going on FB Live just to accuse the minority bloc of supposedly knowing something about the gunfire at the Senate?” Lacson posted on social media.
The dispute stems from an emotional confrontation when Cayetano accused opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros of trivializing the shooting incident, as the latter had been urging chamber leaders to investigate the chaotic circumstances surrounding the gunfire rather than acting as if nothing occurred.
Lacson had already strongly rejected insinuations from majority senators, specifically naming Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Imee Marcos, alleging that opposition members left early because they anticipated the attack.
The minority senator explained that his allies departed simply because the session ended early and a scheduled meeting for all senators was subsequently changed to a majority-only caucus.
“It is an unfair and malicious insinuation that we in the minority bloc went home early and left them behind because we knew something would happen. That is quite far from the truth. There is no basis for that because no one knew what would happen that night,” Lacson said.
