Cayetano Bloc Accepts New Senate Leadership

With 13 senators voting to install a new Senate president, the bloc of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has accepted the leadership change, picking him as the new minority leader, although he was a no-show as the special session got underway on Wednesday, June 17.

Senators Loren Legarda and Rodante Marcoleta and other minority members showed up at Wednesday’s special session and acknowledged the leadership of Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.

The new minority members skipped the morning portion of the plenary session that saw Gatchalian formally elected, but they attended the convening of the Commission on Appointments (CA), rubbing elbows with the new majority.

Marcoleta, however, attended only the midday CA hearing. Senators Imee Marcos and Bong Go attended the noontime CA plenary session where the confirmation of the ad interim appointments in the diplomatic and military service was tackled. They took their oaths as new CA members before Gatchalian, who as Senate President also chairs the CA.

They also attended the afternoon session along with Sens. Pia Cayetano and Camille Villar.

Former Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano was absent, along with Sens. Robin Padilla and Mark Villar. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is detained while Sen. Ronald dela Rosa is in hiding.

The House of Representatives also elected new members of its CA contingent. Elected to the CA were Deputy Speaker Francisco Paolo Ortega V and Reps. Jose Teves Jr., Franz Pumaren, Wilfredo Mark Enverga and Mercedes Alvarez.

“We just want to work,” Marcos said as she denied that she and her colleagues in the minority led by Alan Cayetano were the perpetrators of the leadership chaos in the Senate. “We’re not causing trouble,” she said.

Legarda huddled and laughed with Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Gatchalian, not showing any a trace of resentment that she had days ago after being stripped of her post as president pro tempore. She even gave Zubiri a hug and Sen. Panfilo Lacson a high five.

“All is well,” Legarda said in a chance interview on the sidelines of the CA session.

“Work has never stopped, and will never stop. Every day is a fresh start,” Legarda said. “We welcome, recognize and congratulate the new leadership, who are dear friends who are competent public servants.”

“Majority rules naman po,” Go said. “This is a collegial body. It’s over. So let’s move on with the new leadership, with the new majority. This is democracy.”

Marcoleta and Gatchalian, meanwhile, were seen shaking hands.

In his three-week stint as Senate president and CA chairman, Cayetano failed to convene the CA to tackle the pending confirmation of appointees.

Despite repeatedly taking to social media to voice his intention to return to work and cooperate with the new majority bloc, Cayetano let his colleagues do the talking on Wednesday as he formally assumed the role of minority leader.

It was Legarda who officially manifested Cayetano’s new position. “Mr. President, on behalf of the minority, may I manifest for the record that Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano shall serve as the minority floor leader,” she said.

But she emphasized that their participation does not mean they are conceding their legal challenge before the Supreme Court against the new leadership.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Isagani Criste, Brig. Gen. Niceforo Diaz Jr., Brig. Gen. Rosemawattee Remo, Lt. Gen. Edmundo Peralta, Vice Adm. Allan Javier and 85 foreign service officers were confirmed during committee and plenary sessions on Wednesday. – With Neil Jayson Servallos, Delon Porcalla