By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and his bloc on Tuesday filed a petition against the validity of the declaration of quorum during the June 3 session that elected Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and acting Senate President.
In their 83-page petition, the Cayetano bloc sought a status quo ante order in the meantime against the present Senate majority, claiming it is “indispensable to preserve the constitutional order, prevent irreparable injury and ensure that the Supreme Court’s main judgment attains meaning and effect.”
Cayetano and his group appealed to the high court to declare the June 3 Senate proceedings null and void.
He also urged the SC to void the designation of senator chairpersons of various committees and the adoption of amendments to the Senate rules on impeachment proceedings.
Joining Cayetano as petitioners are Senators Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Camille Villar, Jinggoy Estrada, and former Senate secretary Jose Montales.
Absent from the petitioners are Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who has an outstanding warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Senators Jose Villanueva and Mark Villar.
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero was included as a respondent.
Despite Escudero’s presence at the June 3 session, the petitioners rejected the claim that 12 senators were sufficient to replace Cayetano as Senate president since the required majority is 13 votes.
In a news release, Cayetano maintained that he is ready to yield the Senate presidency if the Gatchalian block can muster the required 13 votes.
‘Desperate move’
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo Lacson said filing the petition on the eve of the special session called by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. smacked of yet another desperate dirty trick by Cayetano to exercise “authority” as Senate President.
“Disgraced ex-SP Cayetano should have done that earlier to give the Court sufficient time to study and rule on the issue now being raised before the Court. Instead, he chose to file it at the last minute or a day before the special session called by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which intended to tackle pending priority measures and the CA (Commission on Appointments) to tackle the confirmation of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) officers and DFA (Department of foreign Affairs) officials, including a formal election of Senate President Pro Tempore and Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian,” he said in a statement.
“Is he trying to dig deeper in his bag of dirty tricks to create a scene tomorrow by invoking that pending action by the Supreme Court on his petition, he may still exercise his authority as Senate President?” he added.
Lacson said the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms may have his hands full in case Cayetano creates more trouble on Wednesday.
“Acting SP Gatchalian and the majority bloc should not and will not allow that. The Senate Sgt-at-Arms may have his arms and hands full tomorrow in case another of a series of crises is again created by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano,” he said.
“That said, it is not accurate to say that Alan Peter Cayetano created this ongoing crisis. In actual fact, he is the crisis.” (With a report from Leonel Abasola/PNA)
