MANILA, Philippines?In the heat of the debate over the committee of the whole report on the C-5 road extension controversy, some senators Monday engaged in gutter talk.

One resorted to a sexual innuendo, a comment quickly stricken off the Senate records.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. called Sen. Ana Consuelo ?Jamby? Madrigal an ?abused child,? while the latter crowed ?Corruption! Corruption!? as she pointed her index finger at the minority leader.

Madrigal, the complainant against Sen. Manuel Villar in the C-5 project, earlier called Villar a ?coward? for choosing to ignore the committee of the whole?s proceedings.

Pimentel objected to the ?unfair suggestion.?

?(J)ust to call him a coward ? that?s unparliamentary language. And as a matter of fact, I?m surprised why we should go down that low in berating and belittling a colleague of ours. He?s still under investigation as far as I know,? said Pimentel.

He taunted Madrigal to also call the other senators absent Monday as ?cowards.?

Madrigal said it was a mere ?judgment? on her part, but the exchange did not end there.

She courted the ire of the minority senators when she branded them ?choo-choo train? of Villar.

Abused child

This did not sit well with Pimentel. ?If the lady thinks that she can get away with those things here, she has another thing coming?.?

In a comment that sent the gallery rolling with laughter, the minority leader said: ?At least, I?m not an abused child.?

Insertions

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of Villar, joined in the fray, describing Madrigal, a presidential candidate in the May elections, as a ?saling pusa? [someone, usually a child, who is allowed to join a game so he or she would not cry.]

This was after Madrigal explained that she had no budgetary ?insertions? in the national budget passed by the Senate annually compared with Villar.

The debate took a turn for the worse when Pimentel used the same word to comment on Sen. Mar Roxas? defense that he, too, had no insertion in the national budget.

?After your marriage, you will have your insertions,? quipped Pimentel, a rather unsavory remark that drew Roxas? ire.

?I demand that that be removed from the record!? shouted Roxas. ?This is an affront to my wife.?

Roxas was recently married to broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez.

?Then remove it immediately,? retorted Pimentel.

At the time, Roxas was debating with Cayetano, who had the floor as he was defending Villar and presenting the minority report exonerating Villar.

Roxas was defending the Senate majority?s decision to prioritize Villar?s case since, he said, it was the only one being tackled by the chamber.

Senate President Juan Enrile, for his part, challenged Villar to end the issue by appearing in the chamber.

Cayetano insisted that the chamber was ?too politicized? to issue an impartial judgment on a colleague. With a report from Maila Ager, INQUIRER.net