Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin M. Drilon said yesterday that the 24-member Senate is known for its independence and that its members are often described as “24 republics.’’
Drilon stressed this dictum to emphasize that the Senate leadership cannot impose its will on the senators on whether to vote for or against a specific bill unlike the current situation obtaining at the House of Representatives.
He was queried by Senate reporters whether the senators could be asked or ordered by Senate officials to vote “yes’’ on the passage of a controversial bill seeking to re-impose the death penalty.
The House leadership earlier threatened to take away the top positions or committee chairmanship given to House members who are known to toe the Duterte administration line.
“Nirerespecto namin ang paniniwala ng bawat isang senador,’’ he said to emphasize the respect a senator traditionally accords to his colleagues.
This is a tradition in the Senate and “dalawanpung taon na ako sa senado, wala akong marinig ng ganoon,’’ Drilon emphasized, referring to his not having heard an order from the Senate leadership to a member of the Senate to follow its position.
Drilon, who is the acting Senate chief in place of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III who is abroad, said he was the president of the Senate in 2006 that took the anti-death penalty position.
He said the current defective justice system in the country is not a good reason to re-impose the death penalty.
“The defective justice system needs a lot of repair,’’ he added.
On a death penalty-related issue, 14 senators signed last Monday a resolution that the Senate should have a say when a treaty or international agreement concurred in by the Senate is terminated or abrogated.
A Senate hearing on the death penalty was suspended after Drilon raised the issue on the country being a signatory to an international agreement on rejecting capital punishment as a penalty for the commission of a crime.
(MARIO CASAYURAN)
