Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who has been eyeing the Senate presidency in the next Congress, had the most number of absences second only to “graduating” Senator Teofisto Guingona III who failed in his reelection bid in the May 9 elections.
Cayetano was present in 137 out of the 204 sessions at the Senate while Guingona attended only 100 session days.
Due to Cayetano’s frequent absences, Senators Sonny Angara, Bam Aquino and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III took turns at Cayetano’s role as majority leader during the start of sessions, according to Senate records.
With 78 travels for Guingona and 67 for Cayetano, both topped the most travelled senators on official mission, either local or abroad.
Even before the campaign period, Cayetano had frequented Davao City and other places in the country, wooing voters to support his vice presidential campaign. He landed No. 3 in the final count of the elections results with administration standard bearer Leni Robredo winning the race.
But Marcos who came in next to Robredo vowed to file an election protest before the end of this month to contest Robredo’s “questionable votes.”
In stark contrast, Senator Gringo Honasan, who also ran for vice president in tandem with UNA presidential bet Jejomar Binay, had only one absence. He was present 213 times in the sessions, and was never late, the records showed.
Another vice presidential bet, Senator Francis Escudero also failed to attend sessions for 13 days.
Escudero was the running mate of Senator Grace Poe. They ran on the platform of “Gobyenong May Puso.”
The list of the other senators and their attendance: Marcos, 146;
Antonio Trillanes IV, 149; Pia Cayetano, 176; Lito Lapid, 177; Cynthia Villar, 180; Loren Legarda, 183; Koko Pimentel, 187; Grace Poe, 193; Angara and Serge Osmena, 196; Aquino and JV Ejercito, 207 and Nancy Binay, 209.
Travel-wise, Guingona and Cayetano were followed by Marcos, 56. The other senators and their number of travels were Pia Cayetano, 56; Trillanes and Villar, 33; Legarda, 22; Lapid, 21; Angara, 18; Santiago, 17; Pimentel, 15.
Osmena came in late 67 times. Trillanes had 56 and Recto, 44. The record of tardiness showed Poe at 41; Escudero, 36; Pimentel, 35; Marcos, 34; Pia, 21; Guingona, 15; Aquino, 14; Angara, 12; Cayetano, Villar and Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, 10; Revilla, 9; Lapid, 6; Ejercito, 5; BInay, 2.