President Marcos said the events that unfolded in the Senate over the past few days have thrown the chamber and its leadership into disarray, prompting him to call for the resumption of work in the upper chamber.

"Get back to work. Because it’s important, ang dami nating kailangang gawin (we have a lot of things that need to be done)," Marcos said in an ambush interview in Manila on Wednesday, June 3.

Marcos made the statement when asked to comment on the recent events in the Senate, where the majority bloc failed to attend the plenary sessions scheduled for June 1 and 2.

The President said the cancellation of sessions due to the majority bloc's non-appearance at the Senate plenary for two days now has turned the body into "disarray."

"I’m afraid all these events that we have been witnessing have thrown the Senate and its leadership, the whole Senate, into disarray. It has discredited the leadership, and it has stopped the essential business of legislation in government," Marcos said.

He pointed out that the two other branches of the government —executive and judiciary—continue to work, questioning why the legislature "decided not to."

"The two other departments continue to work. The Executive continues to work. The Judiciary continues to work. Why does the Legislature decide to stop working? I don't understand that," he said.

The situation, the President stressed, contradicts the goals they want to achieve, especially in the middle of an emergency.

"The best description I can have is that the legislature is now in disarray. But that is exactly the opposite from what we are trying to achieve. We are trying to achieve some form of stability so that people can get on with their lives, so that people can plan ahead for their future, so that people can count on the assistance of government during this time of an emergency," Marcos said.

"We cannot do that if the legislature decides to stay at home and have a vacation. That is anathema to everything that governance is about," he stressed.

Having served as both a congressman and a senator himself, the President said he never imagined the Senate would find itself in its current situation.

"I never imagined in my entire life — my entire political life — that such a thing could happen, especially to the august — it’s no longer august now — but to the august body of the Upper House, the Senate and the Philippines," Marcos said.

Marcos questioned the basis of canceling the sessions for two consecutive days and the manner they were done.

He does not believe that accompanying a colleague during his arrest was a sufficient reason to cancel a plenary session.

The whole situation, the President stressed, has created confusion about the body's rules.

"Ang rules diyan bago ka mag-cancel ng session (The rule there before you cancel a session), you have to inform the other house three days before you cancel a session, and there has to be a very good reason for canceling a session," Marcos said.

"I don't think na ihahatid mo ang isang senador para pumunta kung saan siya pupunta, hindi yata sapat na dahilan ‘yan para i-cancel ang isang session. Isang session lang yon, ngayon kanselado na naman ang isang session. Hindi ko nga maintindihan kung paano sila magtatrabaho kung ganito (I don't think that accompanying a senator to wherever he is going is sufficient reason to cancel a session. That was just one session, and now another session has been canceled. I honestly don't understand how they can get any work done if this is how things are going)," Marcos pointed out.

On Monday, June 1, Senator Jinggoy Estrada was arrested while inside the Senate for plunder charges.

Marcos further said the Senate's situation "is very sad" to watch.

"It’s a very, very sad situation to have to watch. The country is in need of assistance. People are in need of assistance. How can we provide that assistance without the proper legislation to back it up? That is my problem here looking at it from the side of the executive," he said.

There are currently more than 20 legislations that were tagged as priority in February this year which were targeted to be passed this month.

According to the President, they are "examining all options" to remedy the situation.

"We're examining all our options. We’re looking at the law, we’re looking at the Constitution and to see how we can remedy the situation," Marcos said.

"But it requires the cooperation and the commitment of the Senate leadership to continue with their work otherwise the executive is co-equal only to the legislature. We cannot tell them what to do, we cannot punish them for what they are doing. They have to regulate themselves. And they haven't been doing much of a good job right now," Marcos added.