MISLEADING: Pia Cayetano falsely claimed to not read a script during the June 17 Senate session

Jerome Tan

A Facebook post claims that Senator Pia Cayetano stated that she did not read off a script during a Senate session, only for the Senate secretary to flash her script document on-screen.

CLAIM:

Cayetano claimed not to read off a script during amendments to a bill sponsored by Senator Risa Hontiveros. The Senate secretary flashed on-screen the document she was reading from, which was labelled “script”.

RATING: MISLEADING

CONCLUSION:

The claim is accurate, but benefits from context. The incident occurred during the June 17 Senate session in the middle of amendments to the Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers (SB 1905), sponsored by Senator Hontiveros.

THE FACTS:

• The exchange can be viewed on the Senate session livestream beginning 8:03:59.
• In response to a request from Senator Hontiveros for Senator Cayetano to flash her amendments on-screen, Senator Cayetano stated: “I’m happy to present but I don’t have it in a form that’s presentable right now. Because I’m reading—I don’t read a script. I look at the bill and then I read my amendments, that’s all I have.” (8:06:36)
• The photo in the post can be viewed at 8:08:47, with Senator Cayetano reading off the parts marked under the section labelled “script”. The three lines were her three amendments to that particular section of the bill, read word-for-word.
• Another “script” section was flashed at 8:09:47, with Senator Cayetano again reading off the proposed amendments.
• However, it should be noted that only the amendments were read out, not the rationale for the amendments prepared by her and her staff. The claim receives a “misleading” rating because the “script” Senator Cayetano was reading contained her amendments as reflected on the bill without additional explanations.

THE BOTTOM LINE: 

Having a script is an indicator of preparedness, which is especially important when word-for-word precision is required to draft and amend effective bills.