Ancient history shows how dirty politics can be. I recall reading the tragic story of Julius Caesar, a Roman military general, who was assassinated by Roman senators inside the Senate on the Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC). The attack, led by Senators Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, left Caesar with 23 stab wounds and caused his untimely death. The conspirators feared he would become a dictator and strip them of their privileges.
Today, we have a Senate fiasco in high tension that began on Monday May 11 wherein Senator Ronald de la Rosa was chased up to the Senate plenary hall, where a regular session was held, by the elements of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to serve an alleged arrest warrant that was issued by International Criminal Court that caused disruption of session.
As the story unfolds, the NBI men were already in the Senate building and informed then Senate Presidents Vicente Sotto III that they have arrest warrant for Senator de la Rosa that Sotto advised the NBI men to coordinate with the Senate’s office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA). But Sotto did not inform his other colleagues in the plenary that there would be an arrest to be made against de la Rosa that made other Senators irritated.
Sotto made a serious mistake, unaware that a chase would unfold inside the Senate building that led to unseat him as Senate President to be replaced by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and all positions were declared vacant including the committee chairmanships.
The supposed arrest was botched and is now in question of its veracity and effects to our legal system. Senator de la Rosa has delivered his vote already which mattered most to remove Sotto in all surprises.
And the resignation of the OSAA chief Edgardo Rene Samonte came for his failure to protect a sitting Senator inside the Senate building.
Cayetano is now the Senate President after he took his oath.
This shift reshapes the national political landscape—something the people in Malacañang would likely resent. With the articles of impeachment set to reach the Senate, the case is effectively dead-on-arrival (DOA), an outcome the congressmen failed to foresee.
On Wednesday evening, May 13, while the senators were in caucus awaiting the Articles of Impeachment from the Lower House and finalizing committee chairmanships to be announced the following week, they heard several gunshots inside the Senate building.
It was presumed by Senator Imee Marcos that the attack was premeditated as some of their colleagues had received information through text messages that there would be happenings in the Senate which happened to be true.
Then acting Senate Sergeant-at- arms Police Major General Mao Aplasca had found out that a group of “perceived” elements of the NBI had tried to breach the exit point of the GSIS building to enter the Senate building. Together with other Senate security officers, Aplasca gave the intruders warning shots to drive them away, for Aplasca knew that the NBI men had long firearms too. As of this writing, no one was reportedly injured or shot dead.
An NBI confidential agent was later arrested and allegedly admitted that they had been instructed by lawyer Jerome Bomediano of the NBI’s Organized and Transnational Crime Division. The agent also claimed that President Bongbong Marcos had ordered them to arrest Senator Ronald de la Rosa at all costs, regardless of who might be hurt.
Officials in the Marcos administration, including Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, NBI Director Melvin Matibag, and PNP Chief Jose Melencio Nartatez, denied any involvement in the Senate attack.
It appears that the attack was an act of intimidation in the institution of the Senate that was instigated by purely partisan politics to cause fear to the Senators, aside from getting Senator de la Rosa by force.
Acting on the petition of Senator de la Rosa, the Supreme Court en banc order came on Wednesday afternoon that the office of the Executive Secretary has given a non-extendible period of 72 hours to comment on Senator de la Rosa’s urgent manifestation seeking to prevent his arrest, detention, and transfer in connection with the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Senator de la Rosa would want him to be tried in Philippine court should the charges against him be found to be valid.
Perhaps the Supreme Court now needs to clarify for Filipinos the principle of complementarity in ICC cases. These unfortunate events have also renewed discussion on why the Philippines must once again uphold the rule of law if it hopes to progress and overcome the worst of its politics.
In ancient Rome where the Senate was the major institution to decide on important government matters, no lower house or Kamara was needed. Only those who have gained proper education and nobility could be a Senator of the Republic. But in our case, we have our Lower House whose most members were pretentious to help the poor sector of society. They are more of a burden than help.
In the present situation, the Cayetano-led Senate has to play four cards on the table which are the Blue Ribbon committee on intense investigation flood control projects, the impending arrest of Senator Ronaldo “Bato” de la Rosa, the highly disruptive trial on the impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, and how to maintain the current majority.
The congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint have already chosen a dark political path—especially if Vice President Sara Duterte wins the 2028 national elections. The same goes for those who benefited from a deeply corrupt flood-control program that deprived millions of poor Filipinos of better social services. Even their claim to moral ascendancy is now in question.
To write your name in the impeachment charge is already a choice, and history books will judge you for your decision.
What I find striking about the Italian Renaissance (Rinascimento) is how corruption often revolved around powerful, wealthy families. Many used their influence to secure church posts—including the papacy—for relatives, some of whom were notorious for immoral behavior. Bribery was widespread as well: bishops traded their votes to back favored candidates for pope in Rome, often paid in bags of gold. That was the dirty politics of the time—though it may be less visible today.
This practice reached the Philippine archipelago when Spanish friars arrived in Cebu in March 1521 and helped establish a Church-led government. Over the next 350 years, many abusive friars, despite arriving with little, amassed wealth, exploited native women, granted land to their relatives, and presented themselves as righteous and dignified while looking down on the poor.
This rotten system remains still in our system because we allow it. Most of those educated who have the capacity and capability to change the system remain passive. They would rather leave the country and migrate to another country than enjoin themselves to eliminate the misfits.
I believe there is still hope for this poor country to bounce back in its former glory, if and only if, the future generations can be taught properly on how to be decent, intellectually honest and practice integrity in their youth. We can no longer rely on the elections to change the rotten system.
We are in this quagmire situation because we are afraid to speak the truth. That is why many stay silent even when public funds are looted and smuggled out in Samsonite luggage. History offers a parallel in the Italian Renaissance: corruption in Rome, even in papal elections, persisted because bishops kept their mouths shut—until it helped ignite a wave of upheavals across Europe.
Many congressmen are preoccupied with partisan political games, forgetting that about 17.54 million Filipinos lived below the poverty line in 2023. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also reported roughly 3.0 million poor families that year.
And to be reminded, since 1997, the Senate has rented the GSIS-owned building for about ₱8.3 million a month, or roughly ₱100 million a year. The amount includes around ₱7.8 million for office space and ₱500,000 for parking. As of June 2024, reports said further delays in the new building in Taguig City could add ₱400 million in rental costs.
I know there is no perfect Congress, because congressmen are human and therefore capable of corruption. Still, we can create rules—grounded in experience—to hold them accountable and curb their greed for public funds.
I believe we deserve a better Congress, not this one we have now.
