After ‘Sarap ng buhay!’ remark, ‘Bato’ must physically attend Monday session

MANILA, Philippines — After his viral “Sarap ng buhay!” remark, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa was required to physically attend the Senate session next Monday.

“There is a directive that is being ordered by Senator (Panfilo) Lacson, (Francis) Tolentino, (Sherwin) Gatchalian and myself, we are hereby directing Senator Bato dela Rosa to attend the session on Monday physically because he is becoming very popular in social media,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III said during Wednesday’s “hybrid” plenary session.

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson/PHOTO by Joseph Vidal, Senate PRIB

Sotto, Lacson, Tolentino, and Gatchalian were physically present at the session while the rest of the senators participated via teleconference.

“So you can enjoy the birthday merienda of Senator Ping Lacson on Monday,” he added in jest.

When the Senate session on Tuesday ended relatively early, Dela Rosa told his colleagues: “Sarap ng buhay, sarap ng buhay, gan’to na lang tayo palagi ha?”

(Life is good, life is good, I hope we’re like this all the time).

The neophyte senator, in a message to reporters, said he uttered those words because the session proceeded in a “more efficient” way.

“Kaya nasabi kong ang sarap nang buhay kasi mas mabilis ang talakayan ng bills kapag naka-(WebEx) kami at mas maaga matapos ang session,” Dela Rosa said in a message to reporters.

(The reason I said that was because our discussions on the bills were faster because we used WebEx and the session was suspended early).

Photo courtesy of Office of Sen. Francis Tolentino

In response to Sotto’s directive, Dela Rosa said: “Will comply, Mr. President.”

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also said in jest:

“Para yung statement niya (Dela Rosa) will be pagkatapos ‘Mahirap na ang buhay,’ kasi hanggang alas-10 nandiyan ka pa sa Senado.”

(So his statement after will be ‘Life is now hard,’ because he will probably stay in the Senate until 10 p.m.)