The Tamesis
June 5, 2026
Manila – didn’t show up. accusation. Unnecessary drama and drama. Entering the fourth week of a Senate leadership change, it’s no longer fun. It’s draining. Four weeks of uncertainty, not knowing whether the Senate would take action and begin operations. Losing hope over bills stalled in plenary session.
This exhaustion feels strangely familiar to me. Then it occurred to me: This is what it feels like to deal with a toddler tantrum.
Tantrums, at least in children, are behavioral manifestations of severe emotional disturbance. When children are overwhelmed by strong, unpleasant emotions, such as frustration or upset, it may cause them to lash out by screaming, crying, kicking, hitting, or refusing to obey commands. Losing your temper is not in itself a desire for control; Children don’t necessarily engage in these behaviors just to get what they want. More likely, it’s because they are experiencing huge feelings but they don’t know what to do. The younger our children are, the more likely we are to have tantrums because they don’t yet have the ability to fully express their feelings in words or understand why they feel the way they do.
Ideally, tantrums are best dealt with by helping your child process their emotions. We have a rule for this: norm, connection, and inference. When a child is upset and throwing a tantrum, it’s best to calmly guide them into some soothing activity, such as a hug, before trying to tell them that what they’re doing is destructive. As children begin to calm down, we connect with them so they know they are not alone. Only after they feel calm and understood do we try to reason with them why the way they solved the problem may not be helpful in the long run.
Although tantrums begin as an expression of overwhelmed emotion, once intensified, they can become a problem. Rather than learning to self-regulate, children learn that throwing tantrums helps them get what they want. This happens when a parent, exhausted from screaming, simply hands them a toy, phone, or TV remote. Why bother self-regulating when I can create stress and panic so people give me what I want? For parents, the challenge is figuring out how to help children soothe and feel understood while ensuring they don’t go on to harm themselves or others.
How does that translate into what’s happening in the Senate?
At the very least, governments and people should ensure that the elected leaders who commit these shenanigans should not be rewarded for their actions. They should not be allowed to act with impunity. Elected leaders, in particular, are held to a higher standard of accountability. They are in their positions because of the public trust; they cannot continue to hold their positions as if it is their birthright. Different government departments check each other to prevent each other from going off track. Therefore, the Senate is not immune from lawful arrest and legal consequences.
Their obstructionism intensified when they succeeded in preventing Senator Ronald “Barto” de la Rosa from being arrested by local law enforcement. When Senator Robin Hood Padilla whisked Dela Rosa off the Senate floor and allowed him to escape, it reinforced obstructionism. It’s simple: Successful obstruction attempts make future obstruction efforts more likely.
Now Senate President Alan Cayetano continues to obstruct, refusing to chair and convene the plenary session. There were even allegations that air conditioning and Wi-Fi were switched off, but this was disputed by the Senate government. As long as these actions don’t have real immediate consequences, expect more drama to continue.
When children have tantrums, we try to understand what they need. However, sometimes what they want isn’t the right fit, such as screen time or no homework. In this case, we still regulate and relate: we confirm that not getting what we want is frustrating, and unfortunately, we live in a world where everything we want is unavailable. The real solution is how to accept when things don’t go our way. For children, this might be about comforting, letting them feel upset and cry, taking stock of the good things they have, and perhaps rethinking their strategies so that one day they can get what they want.
The current President of the Senate must acknowledge that his position is ultimately temporary and will be determined by his colleagues. If he wants to achieve change, he should be reassured that there are more appropriate ways of achieving this in Parliament. If what he wants is for him and his colleagues to escape responsibility for their actions, he needs to accept that we live in a nation of laws and trust that due process will give them a chance to clear their names.
