Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile should have heeded the minority's suggestion to hold an all-senators caucus to set the rules on the voting on the much-debated committee report on the C-5 road extension project before it adjourned sessions last Feb. 3.

Sen. Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. explained the minority had earlier broached the idea of holding an all senators' caucus to set the rules for the voting on priority bills including the Committee of the Whole’s report that also seeks to censure Sen. Manuel Villar for improper and unethical conduct.

He said the senators’ caucus should have agreed on which bills should be approved first and without too much debates.

He said this would have also enabled them to craft and agree on whether the C-5 report should be voted upon by a qualified majority of 12 senators, an absolute majority of l6 or a plurality of the quorum.

Pimentel said Enrile ignored this appeal.

The abrupt adjournment of the last day of session at the Senate should be blamed on the Senate leadership more than anything else, he said.

He said there were 16 senators with the majority which Enrile could rely on to ensure a quorum. Pimentel said there were only five senators with the minority, including him, Villar and Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Joker Arroyo.

“To my mind, what happened, when not enough senators showed up to constitute a quorum, was attributable to a failure of leadership in the Senate," Pimentel said.

“There was too much partisanship which divided the Senate and did irreparable harm. This was the first time that this happened in the history of the Senate,” he said.

“Considering the circumstances, I think the Senate leadership divided the Senate into hostile camps instead of having the senators work together for the good of the nation,” Pimentel said