The Minority senators on Tuesday apologized to the beneficiaries of bills on hold due to the absence of Majority bloc members.

Neither the Majority nor Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano have attended plenary sessions for the past two days, rendering the Senate unable to convene.

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan told reporters in the session-turned-press conference that he had apologized to two guests who came again for the review of bills due for a third reading.

“I apologize to the Filipino people on behalf of the Senate that this is the way it is,” he said.

Pangilinan disclosed that four of the eight bills that would have been covered on Tuesday concerned the agriculture sector. He called the Majority senators’ absences an “abandonment of responsibility.”

“Four of the eight on the agenda today were supposed to be agri(culture) bills that would have benefited farmers and fishermen, and all of the citizenship bills were not acted upon due to this abandonment of responsibility,” the senator said, referring to Senate Bills No. 1990 and 1991, and citizen bills HB No. 6639 and 6644.

HB No. 6639 and 6644 seeks to grant Philippine citizenship to basketball player Benne Boatwright III and wrestler Matthew James Ramos.

Additionally, Senator Risa Hontiveros lamented the delay on her sponsored amending bills: SB No. 1511 or the Anti-Hospital Detention Bill, and SB No. 1905 or the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers.

“The Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers and the Anti-Hospital Detention Bills are already in the amendments, but they won’t allow the session to complete them for all our countrymen,” she said.

The Anti-Hospital Detention Bill seeks to preempt and penalize hospitals and other healthcare institutions from holding patients hostage when they are unable to pay their fees. Meanwhile, the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers aims to provide community health frontliners with compensation and benefits.

The Minority bloc, dubbed the “Solid Bloc 11,” called for Cayetano’s resignation over “abandoning” his duties and violating Senate rules.

“What happened today was a clear abandonment of responsibility, a dereliction of duty, and a blatant disregard of the rules that govern this institution, because the Senate cannot be made to stop working simply because its presiding officer refuses to lead,” the senators said in a joint statement.