Nancy Binay-Alan Cayetano conciliation meeting in the offing

Senators Nancy Binay (left) and Alan Peter Cayetano (Senate PRIB / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — A closed-door conciliation meeting between Senators Nancy Binay and  Alan Peter Cayetano will be spearheaded by the chamber’s ethics panel to address the tension between the two lawmakers after a heated discussion on the new Senate building.

Panel head and Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, in an ambush interview on Wednesday, said the rules of the committee have been approved and only need to get published.

Asked to explain the conciliation process, Tolentino said it only means that he  and other members of the Senate panel on ethics will meet with Binay and Cayetano to mediate and possibly convince the two to have an “amicable settlement.”

“So bago mag hearing, imi-meet ko muna yung mga complainant at yung kung sinuman ang kinomplain para i-settle ang [disagreement],” said Tolentino.

(So before the hearing, I will meet with the complainant and whoever is being complained about.)

Tolentino said the meeting will take place after the approval of the rules.

“Yung rules ngayon pa lang ipa-publish so 15 days later, after approval of the rules, siguro pag nag convene na yung Congress,” he explained.

(The rules will be published now, so 15 days later, after the approval of the rules, and maybe when Congress convenes.)

Binay filed an ethics complaint against Cayetano for allegedly resorting to name-calling and behaving disorderly during the chamber’s proceedings.

In a 15-page complaint, Binay specifically noted that Cayetano committed the crime of slander against her.

The charge was submitted days after the two senators exchanged barbs during the Senate panel on accounts’ hearing on the supposedly ballooning cost of a new Senate building in Taguig City.

During the July 3 hearing, panel head Cayetano insisted that the building’s cost would total a whopping P23 billion.

Binay, on the other hand, cited the Department of Public Works and Highways’ data, pointing out that the building would only cost around P21 billion.