Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Saturday, May 23, validated the widely shared public perception that the Philippine Senate has degenerated from a deliberative body of statesmen into a spectacle—agreeing with “organic netizens” who have been comparing the chamber to a children’s playground, and saying it pains him to share the sentiment but he cannot help it.
“It pains me na magsalita ng ganito dahil member ako ng Senate, pero I cannot also help but share your sentiments and the sentiments of netizens,” Lacson said in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday.
Lacson invoked the original meaning of the word “senate” from the Roman senatus — an institution of wise and mature statesmen—to underscore how far the Philippine Senate has fallen from that ideal.
“Isipin mo, ang salitang ‘senators’, ‘di ba wise, mature men sa Rome nung araw. ‘Pag sinabing senatus, ito ‘yung institusyon ng mga wise at tsaka mga mature na mga statesman. Pero ‘yun nga, ‘pag nakarinig ka ng komentaryo na parang mga bata, eh ‘di parang naging playground ‘yung Senado sa halip na nasa pedestal,” he said.
“‘Yung 2001, ‘yung first term ko, inabot ko rin ‘yan. Sina Blas, Nene Pimentel, Joker Arroyo, Ed Angara. ‘Yung mga ganyang mga talagang statesman na ituturing natin, na talagang ang tingin ‘pag nakakita ang mga kababayan natin ng senador, nakatingala,” he said.
Lacson said the contrast between then and now could not be more jarring—where once Filipinos looked up to senators with admiration, they now look down on them with contempt.
“Pero ngayon, parang ‘pag nakakita ng senador, kung ‘di man hindi nga pantay, parang mas mababa pa ‘yung kanilang tingin. Nakayuko pa ‘yung mga tao natin sa kanila. Figuratively speaking, Cesar, parang ganun ang pananaw. Nakakalungkot ‘yun,” he said.
The senator confirmed that even within the Senate, colleagues privately acknowledge that the institution’s reputation has hit rock bottom—saying the public anger is genuine, organic, and no longer containable.
“Aminin man namin o hindi, talagang mababang-mababa ang pananaw at perception ng ating mga kababayan sa Senado sa ngayon,” he said, describing the public reaction as citizens who had long been silent finally being pushed beyond their breaking point.
Lacson described the eruption of public sentiment using a volcanic metaphor, saying the anger has been building for years and can no longer be suppressed.
“Parang sa palayok, sa sinaing, tumawpaw na ‘yung sabaw, umapaw na ‘yung tubig, at hindi na kaya. Kumbaga sa bulkan, talagang sasabog na, mag-e-erupt na kasi nga punong-puno na ng init, punong-puno na ng galit doon sa loob,” he said.
He said the public anger is not rooted solely in last week’s Senate shooting incident and leadership shakeup but in the accumulated weight of corruption issues—particularly the explosion of budget allocations from 200 million pesos per senator in the pork barrel era to tens of billions today, even after the Supreme Court declared the pork barrel system unconstitutional.
“Nakakatakot pa nga, bilyon ang pinag-uusapan. Hindi na nga hundred million. Nung kailan na-declare na unconstitutional, umabot ng bilyon! Hindi lamang bilyon, tens of billions bawat isa?” he said.
Lacson also pointed to the breakdown of collegiality inside the chamber as a visible symptom of the Senate’s decline — saying senators from opposing blocs no longer sit together during breaks or engage in the friendly, high-level discussions that once characterized the institution regardless of political affiliation.
“Nung araw medyo may sigawan din, pero pagkatapos ng debate, nagkakamayan. ‘Pag nag-break kami sa session, pupunta kami sa lounge, magkakasama kami sa isang table, nagkukwentuhan kami,” he said, contrasting this with the current reality where majority and minority senators sit in clearly segregated sections of the Senate lounge.
He said the perception that senators are behaving like children is not unfair—noting that the Senate chamber has become a venue for public theatrics, dramatic confrontations, and shouting matches that belong outside, not inside, a deliberative body.
“Wala namang ginagawa sa session hall, ‘di ba? May mga dramatics, theatrics, tapos nagkakasigawan kami,” Lacson said, adding that what happens inside the Senate today would have been unthinkable during the era of the statesmen he once covered and admired.
Lacson called for a Senate-wide retreat and collective self-reflection as the most meaningful first step toward rebuilding the institution, invoking the model set by Senate President Jovito Salonga after the 1989 coup attempt—when Salonga brought all senators to Pansol, Laguna for a workshop in the aftermath of the crisis.
“Kailangan siguro magkaroon kami ng self-reflection. Suriin namin ‘yung aming mga sarili individually and collectively para pag-isipan namin papaano namin ibabangon ‘yung kapurihan ng Senado,” he said.
