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Lacks of quorum dooms Senate sine die session
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Posted on Jan 08 2006
Due to apparent political division, the 14th Senate has ended without its members gathering for the traditional sine die session.
Efforts by some members to gather the entire 14th Senate one last time failed because of lack of quorum.
Sen. Joseph Mendiola said only four members of the nine-man legislative body showed up for the sine die session that was originally slated for Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006, and rescheduled for the following day.
The senators present were Pete P. Reyes and Tomas Villagomez of Saipan, and Henry San Nicolas and Mendiola of Tinian. They were counting on the attendance of Rota Sen. Paterno S. Hocog, but the latter said he could not make it because he was hospitalized due to food poisoning.
These five senators are the same ones who failed to show up at the Dec. 14, 2005 session called by outgoing Senate President Joaquin Adriano. They are believed to have boycotted the previous session because they did not want to act on outgoing Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s nominations to various boards and commissions.
The senators are all part of the incoming Senate leadership to be headed by Mendiola.
The four incumbent senators who showed up for the Dec. 14 session—Paul A. Manglona, Luis Crisostimo, Diego Songao, and Adriano—did not appear in last week’s session.
Of the four, only Manglona and Crisostimo will be part of the new Senate that will sworn-in at 10am today. They are the only two reelected senators who have not signified alliance with the new Covenant Party-led Senate majority.
The 15th Senate leadership will be made up of Covenant Party’s Mendiola, San Nicolas, and Felix Mendiola, as well as of independent Senator Reyes, Republican Senator Hocog, and Democrat Sen. Maria Frica Pangelinan.
Joseph Mendiola will be the Senate president and Reyes the vice president. Pangelinan will be the secretary and Felix Mendiola will be the floor leader.
