Who Will Prevail? Senators’ Clash Continue, Two Memos Issued, Two Blue Ribbon Hearings Set As Cayetano, Legarda Contest Reorganization

Showing no signs of relinquishing his post, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano maintained that he is still the Senate president and that the scheduled Blue Ribbon committee hearing today, June 4, will proceed.

“I’m issuing a (memorandum) to the Secretariat and to the Office of the Sergeant-of-Arms to keep the Senate open (on June 4),” Cayetano said on Wednesday, June 3, on Facebook Live.

The supposed Blue Ribbon session will hear yet again the testimonies of the “18 Ex-Marines” who alleged to have delivered suitcases of kickbacks to administration allies.

“(On Thursday), the Blue Ribbon committee pushes through. We have to hear the testimonies. Even the ones who committed illegal acts (on Wednesday), they are invited,” he said, clearly pertaining to his Senate colleagues led by new Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian.

“You can try to stop us, but you will be stopping the Filipino people,” Cayetano said.

He urged his supporters to have a prayer vigil in the Senate today in case the new leadership prevents them from entering the building to hold the session.

“I am still the legitimate, legal, moral Senate President of the Republic of the Philippines,” Cayetano insisted on Facebook Live.

Cayetano denied that he was sparking a constitutional crisis by insisting on his invalidated Senate presidency.

“We will have the Blue Ribbon committee. As Senate President, the Senate premises are under my authority. Do not padlock the Senate. Do not have an excuse that there is a rally. There is always a rally outside the Senate,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano sent to the media a copy of a memorandum identifying himself as the “Senate President” giving “all Senate officials and personnel” the “authority to conduct business and proceed with scheduled committee hearings during the sine die adjournment.”

“All Senate officials and personnel are hereby formally informed that the Office of the Senate President remains fully operational, and the incumbent Senate President continues to hold and exercise the powers, functions and prerogatives of the said office,” Cayetano’s memo read.

Cayetano directed the sergeant-at-arms “to take all necessary and appropriate measures to facilitate and ensure the orderly entry, identification and accommodation” of the expected witnesses.

“All Senate officials and employees are expected to discharge their official functions in accordance with their oaths of office and in full compliance with existing laws, Civil Service rules and the official directives of the Senate President,” he added.

However, Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, who was elected Senate president pro tempore during the reorganization by the new majority on Wednesday, issued a memorandum on Wednesday implementing a work-from-home arrangement in Senate offices today in contrast to Cayetano’s order to keep the chamber’s premises open.

Cayetano’s insistence that there would be a Blue Ribbon hearing today despite the leadership change also did not sit well with the new Blue Ribbon chair, Sen. Erwin Tulfo, who replaces Sen. Pia Cayetano.

At a press briefing after their takeover, Tulfo said he will instead schedule the resumption of the Blue Ribbon flood control probe on Monday, June 8.

If the former majority led by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta insist on pushing through with the Blue Ribbon schedule today, they will not be allowed to do so in the session hall, Tulfo added.

The new Blue Ribbon chair also said all senators will be invited to take part in the hearing “so that no one can claim that there is magic behind the scenes.”

Before Wednesday’s leadership takeover, Cayetano went on Facebook around lunchtime with Marcoleta, tapped as Blue Ribbon vice chair.

Cayetano in that livestream defended today’s supposed flood control probe amid criticisms by Sen. Raffy Tulfo that the Blue Ribbon committee was a “bastard committee” illegally created by Cayetano’s leadership.

Legarda cries foul

Sen. Loren Legarda in a statement raised “serious constitutional concerns, pointing out that no senator can validly act as Senate president on the strength of only 12 votes.”

“Under Article VI, Section 16(1) of the 1987 Constitution, ‘The Senate shall elect its President by a majority vote of all its respective Members.’ Since the Senate is composed of 24 Senators, that majority is 13. By the fact that the Senators present did not have 13 votes, they could not validly elect a Senate president or authorize any senator to act as Senate president,” she said.

“Under Rule II, Section 2 of the Rules of the Senate, ‘The officers of the Senate shall be elected by the majority vote of all its members.’ This means that the Senate President Pro Tempore, the Senate Secretary and the Sergeant-at-Arms also required at least 13 votes,” the former Senate president pro tempore added.

“We remain firm in our respect for the Constitution,” Legarda noted. “Any proceeding conducted without the constitutionally required quorum raises serious questions of validity and cannot be recognized as consistent with the clear mandate of the Constitution.” – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Louella Desiderio, Evelyn Macairan