BENNIE Boatwright's naturalization was among the matters that had to be shelved amid the upheaval at the Philippine Senate on Monday.
House Bill 6639, an act granting Philippine citizenship to the Gilas Pilipinas naturalization candidate, was tabled for Monday and set to be approved on third and final reading. But the Senate never came around to tackle the bill due to a lack of quorum.
READ Senate bill seeking Boatwright naturalization approved on second reading
Boatwright, accompanied by a Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) official, was already at the Senate waiting for the deliberations to start when the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada threw the body in disarray.
With most in the majority bloc leaving the Senate floor, members of the minority were left in the plenary until the end of the day's session.
The delay leaves Boatwright and the SBP in a race against time to complete the naturalization process as the Senate is set to take a break after Wednesday. It won't resume until July.
The SBP is hoping to have Boatwright on board by the time Gilas Pilipinas defends its Asian Games gold medal in Nagoya in September.
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