Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Sens. Joel Villanueva and Robinhood Padilla hug after brief tension on the Senate floor over the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte on over Sara Duterte impeachment complaint on June 10, 2025. ABS-CBN News/livestream

Sens. Joel Villanueva and Robinhood Padilla hug after brief tension on the Senate floor over the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte on June 10, 2025. ABS-CBN News/livestream

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — Senators are often described as being &quot;independent republics&quot; but are still bound by rules meant to ensure proper decorum, especially during heated debates.</p><p>Among those rules are letting a fellow senator who has the floor speak without interruption and a prohibition on unparliamentary — offensive or improper — acts and language.</p><p>These have not always kept tempers from rising and personalities from clashing in the august chamber. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/13/pangilinan-on-padilla-hindi-ko-siya-aatrasan-0026">Pangilinan on Padilla: &#x27;Hindi ko siya aatrasan&#x27;<br/></a></div><p>The confrontation between Sens. Francis &quot;Kiko&quot; Pangilinan and Robinhood Padilla on Tuesday is just the latest among these, with both senators saying they might file ethics complaints against the other.</p><p>But there have historically few takers for seats on the ethics committee, which has also been slow to take action on complaints against their colleagues.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>MARCOLETA VS. LACSON</strong></div><p>The two senators, both now former chairs of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, have also repeatedly engaged in word wars over the conduct of hearings into corruption in flood-control projects.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/6/lacson-claims-marcoleta-had-allocables-1553">Lacson claims Marcoleta had allocables, stops short of imputing crime</a></div><p>The two have often argued on the Senate floor and have even delivered privilege speeches about each other. </p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sKmpSkl7V2s?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><strong></strong><br/></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/10/lacson-marcoleta-face-off-over-delayed-blue-ribbon-report-1800">Lacson, Marcoleta face off over &#x27;delayed&#x27; Blue Ribbon report</a></div><p>Disagreements between the two have erupted over recent months and there are no signs of a ceasfire any time soon, given another shake-up at the Senate earlier this week.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-NOFpovnbYA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>PADILLA VS. VILLANUEVA</strong></div><p>In 2025, tension erupted between Padilla and Sen. Joel Villanueva over a motion by Sen. Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; Dela Rosa to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4DdU6t7Hkck?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></div><p>The two quickly settled the matter and hugged it out.</p><p>Then Senate President Francis &quot;Chiz&quot; Escudero said at the time<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/11/tension-between-senators-normal-escudero-says-after-villanueva-padilla-clash-1530"> that that was &quot;normal&quot; during politically-charged proceedings like impeachment.</a></p><p>He added he saw no need to talk to the senators about the incident since they had alreayd settled it themselves.</p><p>The three senators are now in the same majority bloc supporting Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17786556690641778655667230.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Sens. Joel Villanueva and Robinhood Padilla hug after brief tension on the Senate floor over the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte on June 10, 2025. ABS-CBN News/livestream </span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>CAYETANO VS. ZUBIRI</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gHB8HsB65LI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Cayetano and Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri also traded barbs in 2024 over a resolution concerning the EMBO —  Enlisted Men&#x27;s Barrio — barangays that the Supreme Court had ruled were part of Cayetano&#x27;s bailiwick Taguig City after a long court battle with Makati City.</p><p>Cayetano&#x27;s Concurrent Resolution 23 sought to include the 10 barangays in the two legislative districts of Taguig and Pateros so voters from being disenfranchised.  </p><p>Zubiri later said the tense exchange was just a misunderstanding and that he had thought the proposal was for a new legislative district for Taguig. </p><p>The lawmaker from Bukidnon said that he immediately apologized and stressed that <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/25/escudero-no-need-to-discipline-zubiri-cayetano-over-verbal-tussle-1333">his inquiry was &quot;legitimate&quot; and was &quot;nothing personal.&quot;</a></p><p>He also stressed that he, Cayetano and Escudero are long-time colleagues from when they were members of the House in the late 1990s.</p><p>Even senators who has been hailed as &quot;legal luminaries&quot; were not immune from figuring in ugly arguments, with then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile engaging in a word war with Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago in the session hall and beyond it in 2013.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EzDVchEcVTo?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></div><p>The animosity between them, Enrile said when Santiago passed away in 2016, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/09/29/16/nemesis-enrile-saddened-by-santiagos-passing">may have started as early as the presidency of Corazon Aquino</a>.</p><p>Senate President Enrile and Cayetano — minority leader at the time — also traded barbs in 2013 over what the younger senator said was the unfair distribution of money from the Senate&#x27;s savings. </p><p>Although it did not happen on the Senate floor, Cayetano also had an intense word war with then Blue Ribbon Committee chair Richard Gordon in 2009, with each referring to the other as a dog.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>WHAT THE RULES SAY</strong></div><p>Under Senate rules, senators are not supposed to interrupt each other without consent, which &quot;may not be obtained except through the president or presiding officer.&quot;</p><p>Protocol also requires them to address their remarks to the presiding officer — Mr. President or Madame President — even when responding to each other.</p><p>The rules also prohibit &quot;acts and language which offend a senator or any public institution.&quot;</p><p>Such acts and language are considered unparliamentary, which senators could be penalized for.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/16/senate-ethics-panel-signs-internal-rules-paving-way-for-resolution-of-complaints-1341">Senate ethics panel signs internal rules, paving way for resolution of complaints<br/></a></div><p>In case of violations of these rules or of other rules of the Senate, the presiding officer may call the senator who committed the violation to order.</p><p>&quot;The senator concerned shall immediately take his seat if he happens to have the floor; and, in case the point of order raised has been sustained by the president or presiding officer, said senator shall not continue speaking without the consent of the Senate,&quot; the chamber&#x27;s rules read. </p><p>Senators may also ask for the allegedly unparliamentary language read back for the Senate to hear it and decide on it.</p><p>The Committee on Ethics and Privileges can recommend penalizing a senator for disorderly behavior.</p><p>That recommendation could lead to a penalty of up to 60 days or expulsion if two-thirds of the Senate concurs. <strong>— Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News</strong></p>

<p>Senators are often described as being "independent republics" but are still bound by rules meant to ensure proper decorum, especially during heated debates. Among those rules are letting a senator who has the floor speak without interruption and a prohibition on unparliamentary acts and language.</p>

Senators are often described as being "independent republics" but are still bound by rules meant to ensure proper decorum, especially during heated debates. Among those rules are letting a senator who has the floor speak without interruption and a prohibition on unparliamentary acts and language.

Despite rules on decorum, clashes common in the Senate's halls

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Despite rules on decorum, clashes common in the Senate's halls

ABS-CBN News

Published May 13, 2026 04:09 PM PHT

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Updated May 13, 2026 04:20 PM PHT

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Senate

Ethics Committee

Rules of the Senate

Francis Pangilinan

Robinhood Padilla

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