21 SENATORS. Senate session begins early Monday with 21 senators present before President Benigno Aquino III’s third Sona. Photo by Katherine Evangelista, INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Session at the Senate of the Philippines resumed at exactly 10 a.m. Monday with 21 senators present.
Senators Francis Pangilinan and Miriam Defensor-Santiago were absent.
In a letter addressed to Senate Secretary Atty. Emma Lirio Reyes, Santiago excused herself from the opening ceremony due to sickness.
“Kindly mark her in the Senate Journal as ‘On Sick Leave’,” Santiago’s chief of staff Atty. Camille Sevilla said in the letter. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III were also given copies of the letter.
Senator Allan Peter Cayetano came a few minutes late.
The session adjourned 45 minutes later after Senator Ponce-Enrile delivered his speech. It will convene again at 4 p.m. on Monday at the House of Representatives to give way to President Aquino’s third Sona.