Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said on Tuesday that his camp has filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to declare null and void the June 3 Senate session that installed Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and reorganized key leadership positions and committee chairmanships in the chamber.
In an 86-page petition for certiorari and prohibition under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, the petitioners asked the High Court to recognize Cayetano as Senate President and Senator Loren Legarda as Senate President Pro Tempore.
They also sought the issuance of a status quo ante order to restore the situation prior to the disputed June 3 session.
The petitioners are Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Go, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla, Camille Villar, and former Senate Secretary Jose Luis Montales.
Notably, Senators Joel Villanueva and Mark Villar were not included in the list of petitioners.
In a Facebook post, Cayetano said the petition was not primarily about the Senate leadership dispute.
“As the petition explains, this is not about a Senate leadership issue. Those who oppose it want to paint our motives in those simple terms—simple enough to twist, simple enough to confuse people about the real issues,” Cayetano said.
The senator also suggested that the bloc led by Gatchalian may have already secured the support of 13 senators needed to formally take over the Senate presidency.
Cayetano accused members of Gatchalian’s group of pressuring senators from his bloc to switch allegiance, an allegation that has previously been denied by Gatchalian’s camp.
“Kung 13 sila, congratulations, you know how you got it: pananakot, panunuhol, sasabihin, ikukulong; Sabi namin, anytime na 13 kayo, kayo na mamuno, pero hindi magbabago principles namin,” Cayetano said.
The controversy stemmed from the June 3 Senate session that elevated Gatchalian to the position of acting Senate president and reshuffled leadership posts in the chamber.
According to the petition, members of the Cayetano bloc were absent from the session, with Estrada under arrest and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa reportedly in hiding. However, Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero, who had previously been identified with the Cayetano bloc, attended the proceedings.
The petition argued that the session was improperly convened and described the actions of those who conducted it as a “rump session.”
“With all due respect, given the audacious behavior of the 12 persons who conspired to call a rump session into order, mob rule may be seen to carry the day for the foreseeable future—having been emboldened by the Executive Branch and by the House of Representatives—unless the Honorable Court intervenes and sets them in place,” the petition stated.
