Possible arrest of senators could shift senate balance of power - Coronacion | Morning Matters

追加: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]And now let us get more insights from Dr. Dennis Coron. He is the chairman of the USC department of political science.

[00:00:06]Good morning sir and thank you for joining us again here on the program.

[00:00:10]>> Uh good morning Pauline. Uh good morning to all your uh subscribers and thank you for having me.

[00:00:16]>> All right. First of all sir, how politically significant is this uh decision from the umbbudsman to file plunder and graph charges against senator Jingo Estrada?

[00:00:26]Well, it's very significant in the sense that uh you know uh since uh plunder charges will be filed against them uh we do expect that in the coming days uh these three senators that you mentioned uh will be issued with a warrant of arrest. So that's going to affect uh the uh number of the majority senators that will be able to attend the subsequent sessions uh in the Senate. Uh right now numbers are very important for them since uh uh you know uh the observation among political analysts is that uh the the difference between the majority black and the minority black is really very thin. So uh since uh we also know for a fact that senator B de la Rosa has been hiding. So the 13 senators who have formed the majority block without bat de la roa is reduced to 12 and then in the coming days uh should the arrest be implemented uh uh for these three senators that you named I think uh their number will be reduced to eight if I'm not mistaken.

[00:01:36]>> Mhm. But sir, uh, given the scale of the alleged kickbacks involved in the charges, um, Senator Jingo Eyest Estrada is facing, we're talking about over half a billion pesos considering high level politician or political leader, knowing how, you know, how our budget is enacted.

[00:02:17]Lawmakers involved executive department.

[00:02:24]As we know, sir, um Senator Jingo Estrada has already faced blunder charges before. uh and um what resulted from that was that he was either acquitted or cleared uh in all these previous cases um is how will history shape public perception now when it comes to this latest case of plunder? Um will it still affect his credibility as a politician or have voters become desensitized already uh to all cases like these?

[00:02:55]Over the years, uh, Phil Filipinos have seen politicians who were charged with who have been charged with plunder cases.

[00:03:10]Uh, and uh, well, I just hope I still hope that we still have this uh uh in moral uh perception.

[00:03:39]Now for Senator Jingo Eyest Estrada, he is questioning the timing of the charges and um he also claims that this is politically motivated target senators from the majority block. Uh what do you make of that uh defense or argument from Senator Estrada? Well, to a certain extent, I think he has a valid point uh considering that uh uh some of his allies in the Senate uh have been filed uh uh several charges and know different charges. If there's anything common among them, I think plunder even Senator Marlet, I think he's the latest uh among the opposition senators or rather senators in the majority black mayo. Uh what we are seeing is a wave of cases being filed against them.

[00:04:37]civil society and even those in the academal processes.

[00:04:52]We saw this before like uh being used against the certain media personalities.

[00:04:58]For example, uh Raptor in the case of Maria Resa and we also used we also saw this uh used being used against uh uh Congresswoman Leila De Lima.

[00:05:15]Periser, from a political standpoint, um, do you expect this latest case of Senator Jingo Estrada to isolate himo or do you think his r his allies will still rally around him uh if the narrative of political persecution gains traction?

[00:05:31]>> Well, I think allies will especially those in the Senate, they have their own problems. Uh but uh right now uh stand is to rally behind uh Senator Jingoy uh Estrada, but we don't know how long this will uh last. uh per that's the know that's the narrative that they're trying to uh uh tell us that there is that they're being persecuted that the pro that the prosecution uh the these charges are being used to persecute them because they uh they're clearly against uh the administration.

[00:06:13]Um we just don't know.

[00:06:17]Although uh in the case of the vice president in the midterm elections or right before the midterm elections gain traction narrative >> uh but we just don't know if this is going if this is going if that's going to happen also in the cases of uh senator Estrada and the other senators may plan their charges. Mhm. So sir, how do you see all these cases affecting the dynamics uh within the Senate? Um a lot of critics are saying majority arrest Senator Jingo Estrada and even other senators possibly potentially facing uh charges. What will happen uh to the dynamics the power dynamics inside the Senate? Well, this is going to affect a lot the power dynamics inside the Senate and um what what we are what we are seeing is an interesting uh story that's unfolding. uh meaning to say majority headed by uh Senate President Alan Peter Kaitano but in the dayto-day uh uh affairs of the Senate uh especially when votes are needed since uh eventually if if they're going to lose uh few of their allies um decisions that would require the majority achieving majority.

[00:07:54]>> Uh because we we do anticipate now uh worst case scenario they will be reduced to eight senators only majority. They still have the Senate presidency per in terms of voting 11 senators would since they are solely they're intact. We do expect them to be intact in the coming weeks. Uh that will not be enough to get the uh required 13 uh votes in order to no to seize power from Senate President Alan Peter Gano.

[00:08:34]every time a resolution needs to be voted on or a bill is sub needs needs the approval of the majority. So majority when it comes to the Senate leadership it will be retained by the majority block.

[00:08:59]uh they have the 13 needed to to retain the Senate leadership, but they don't have they will not have uh the required majority in voting for resolutions in passing uh or rejecting bills and so on and so forth. And ultimately nine senators are needed if the impeachment trial will push through uh in the end of the impeachment process.

[00:09:28]nine senators to acquit the vice president. So by that time it will take months nine senators for them to be able to appoint the vice president. So meaning to say sir majority proposal to amend the rule allowing senators to vote electronically and remotely. I believe on Monday.

[00:10:00]>> Yeah. Um in terms of in terms of the merits of their argument, it appears that uh you know that the reason why they are pursuing this is because this will be convenient or helpful for their political agenda.

[00:10:20]This is their counter measure.

[00:10:25]anticipate in terms of numbers. Uh I think yeah I think they still need the majority and uh I don't know if uh they will have it by the time that they will uh tackle you know the the uh proposed uh uh amendment to the senator participate online absent senators physically.

[00:10:56]>> Mhm. All right. So sir now let's talk about um budsman boying. What do you make of his um apparent resolve? no in going after high uh profile politicians, high-profile senators. Uh especially given that his earlier remarks were, you know, secure plunder convictions. But now we see that he is uh indeed recommending charges of plunder.

[00:11:23]>> Well, uh that's good for the office of the ombbudsman. That means that uh mania is really doing his job.

[00:11:33]There is always this uh there's always this suspicion that the reason why he's so he's very enthusiastic or very eager uh to to pro to prosecute certain political personalities is that uh it's politically motivated to disprove that kind of suspicion membersity political personalities prosecute. Hopefully, politically colorblind regardless of the political affiliation of a of a law maker or a politician.

[00:12:22]That's what we hope that the ombbudsman is going to do. Color blind.

[00:12:28]And uh one thing that Ombbudsman Remoleia also said is that the Supreme Court's interpretation of plunder uh may have imposed exaggerated requirements.

[00:12:41]They are still determined uh to file these particular charges against uh senators.

[00:12:49]Could this case potentially redefine how plunder cases are prosecuted moving forward if they become successful in uh convicting senator?

[00:13:00]>> I think one of the requirements for a plunder charge uh to to prosper is that uh uh the the amount that is uh no no that is uh uh involved here uh I think the minimum amount is 50 million pesos.

[00:13:16]So that alone uh I think that's present in all the anono in all the senators who have been charged so far plunder as for the other elements that have to be proven in you know and eventually Supreme report airtight plunder charges filed against senators eventually. We do expect these charges to be dismissed either by the San Diego Bay or by the Supreme Court.

[00:13:54]We were hoping law affair mechanism uh that is pursued by the administration in order to persecute uh you know uh those lawmakers those politicians uh who are going against the administration. So either either air that will lead to conviction of uh of this uh lawmakers given the Philippines's long history of high-profile corruption cases ending in a quitidence justice system uh to hold our politicians, our government officials accountable.

[00:14:57]>> Well, my faith institutions in pointing out that we have a long history of uh high-profile politicians getting anal from our uh judiciary. I think it's one of the reasons former president local international court IC. Uh so we we we Filipinos perceive that uh we have because of this know because of these appals uh we have become frustrated with our judiciary.

[00:15:52]institution that we we will have or that we have we're going to have a no high aquital rate high-profile politicians sorry higher no high conviction rate high-profile politicians per sir uh at the same time how damaging are these cases no uh politically for the Senate as an institution. They're already facing a lot of criticism because of uh all the recent events from video presentations alleging uh charter change.

[00:16:39]Um considering that these are plunderer charges somehow related to corruption.

[00:16:45]Uh to call. So if we have three or four senators who are charged with plunder that this is an institution that's coddling thieves okay on on one hand okay naman that this lawmakers are being prosecuted uh political motivation behind their prosecution basis strong legal basis my ev uh supported by evidence then uh it's also good to know at least uh our government is doing something uh to get rid of this uh lawmakers uh who are tainted >> all right we're uh we're going to leave that there for now but thank you very much for sharing your insights with us this morning. That was Dr. Dennis Corinan, chairman of the USD Department of Political Science. Thank you, sir.