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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Lacson on Pia Cayetano's lament: 'Why check on colleagues having happy dinner, coffee?'

Lacson on Pia Cayetano's lament: 'Why check on colleagues having happy dinner, coffee?'

Published May 21, 2026 02:41 pm

At A Glance

  • Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Thursday, May 21 weighed in on the necessity of checking the welfare of his colleagues in the new majority bloc that chaotic evening of Wednesday, May 13, the night gunfire erupted inside the Senate building.
Senator Pia Cayetano during the plenary session at the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City on May 20, 2026. (Mark Balmores)
Senator Pia Cayetano during the plenary session at the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City on May 20, 2026. (Mark Balmores)


Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Thursday, May 21 weighed in on the necessity of checking the welfare of his colleagues in the new majority bloc that chaotic evening of Wednesday, May 13, the night gunfire erupted inside the Senate building.

In a post on X, Lacson pointed this out as he questioned Cayetano’s emotional response to Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ speech on the “business as usual” posture of the new Senate leadership, disregarding the questions regarding the shooting incident that occurred inside the Upper Chamber’s premises and Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s escape.

“Quote of the day: 'Wala man lang nangumusta sa amin!' Paano mo ba naman kukumustahin ang mga masasayang nagkakainan, nagkakape at naka FB Live pa para pagbintangan ang minority bloc na may alam daw sa putukan ng baril sa Senado?” Lacson said in a post on X.

("Quote of the day: 'No one even asked how we were!' How can you check on those people who are having a happy dinner, having coffee and even doing FB live just to accuse the minority bloc of having an idea that there will be shots fired in the Senate)?" 

https://x.com/iampinglacson/status/2057300140818657333

On Wednesday, May 20, Hontiveros urged the Senate leadership to investigate the situation that led to last week's shooting incident.

Lacson noted that Hontiveros, at that time, urged the Senate leadership to "act quickly and appropriately" to investigate the chaotic situation in the Senate that led to last week’s shooting incident and not act as if nothing happened.

At this, Pia Cayetano took offense and accused the now-minority bloc for “trivializing the incident.”

https://x.com/iampinglacson/status/2057097578815324222

Also last week, Lacson thumbed down the unfair and malicious insinuations by some majority bloc members - including Cayetano's brother Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Maria Josefa Remedios "Imee" Marcos - that the minority bloc members left the Senate early on the day of the shooting, because they knew something would happen.

Lacson said the minority members, including himself, left early since the session ended early and a planned all-senators' caucus had been converted into a majority 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,” the senator said in a radio interview.

Related Tags

Senate majority Senate minority bloc Ping Lacson Pia Cayetano
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