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Evelyn Macairan - The Philippine Star
May 23, 2026 | 12:00am
Sen. Pia Cayetano turns emotional during the plenary session at the Senate on May 20, 2026 as she recalls the shooting incident inside the Senate last week.
The Philippine STAR / Ryan Baldemor
MANILA, Philippines — After the emotional breakdown of Sen. Pia Cayetano, Cubao Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr. yesterday inquired about her conscience and if she ever thought about the drug war victims and their families.
On his Facebook account, Ayuban posted an open letter to Cayetano.
“Kumusta ka (How are you)?” he asked, after learning that she was greatly affected by the gunfire in the Senate building last May 13.
“How is your conscience? Still being visited by the names long buried by the news? Kian, Carl, Reynaldo and thousands more whose names have not even been fully written down in the pages of history,” Ayuban posted in Filipino.
“So, before you ask again where your colleagues were, maybe you should look back at the nights you watched silently as the poor were buried one by one,” Ayuban said.
He said during these incidents, he never heard her raise her anger against the extrajudicial killings. “Your anger never echoed in the halls.”
“The blood of the poor can easily be dried by time, especially if it does not have a famous and powerful surname. So, now I ask: does justice have a favorite address? Does compassion know how to choose only those who should be granted mercy?” Ayuban added.
Last May 20, Cayetano broke into tears after Sen. Risa Hontiveros said it was as if nothing happened after the shooting incident at the Senate.
Cayetano alleged that none of her colleagues in the Senate’s minority group checked on her after the incident.
But some senators denied Cayetano’s allegations. Screenshots from a Whatsapp group showed minority senators who asked about the majority and their well-being at the height of the incident.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson also pointed out that the majority senators posted a Facebook Live of them happily eating and having coffee after the incident.
