Senators on Tuesday, Nov. 20 slammed Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) General Manager Cynthia Carrion for sending text messages to hasten the deliberations of the national budget.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri called the actions of Carrion, who he described as a family friend, as inappropriate.
Zubiri particularly mentioned that Carrion sent "more insulting messages" to Senator Risa Hontiveros to stop her inquiry on the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
"That is not proper. That is inappropriate," he said during the plenary session of the Senate.
"My colleagues don't deserve that. Don't mind me. You can insult me, you can get mad at me but my colleagues do not deserve that treatment from members of the government," he added.
Senator Jose Pimentel 'Jinggoy' Ejercito, who raised the issue during the plenary session, said that Carrion has no right to tell the Senate what to do.
"According to that department head, she has been here since 1:00PM, she has been here waiting for their agency, for the budget of their agency to be deliberated upon," Ejercito said.
"We have been working since 9 o'clock in the morning, waiting for all the budgets of the departments to be deliberated upon. We are doing our job and no one has the right to tell us to stop talking here," the Senator stressed.
Ejercito warned that the Senate could move to defer passing the budget of the Department of Tourism, the parent agency of PRA, or slash the funds of the agency due to the actions of Carrion.
DOT Secretary Christina Frasco denounced the actions of Carrion, which she described as 'unacceptable', and 'out of line'.
Frasco admitted that she already discouraged Carrion from asking the Senate to place DOT first in the budget deliberations but the PRA chief acted on her own.
"Imagine my shock and complete utter disappointment when I learned that in defiance of what I had been very clear to her about, proceeded to send these inappropriate text messages," Frasco said.
The DOT chief said that she already ordered Carrion to issue an apology.
Frasco has also ordered an investigation on the actuations of Carrion, and assured that DOT will mete the penalties against the PRA chief for the impropriety of her actions.
Aside from Zubiri, Ejercito, and Hontiveros, Senator Pia Cayetano also received text messages from Carrion.
