All 22 senators must attend special session, end leadership row – expert

MANILA, Philippines — All the remaining 22 senators should attend the special session of Congress to be called by President Marcos to settle their internal row once and for all, and move on to other more pressing issues, said a constitutional law expert.

According to University of the Philippines College of Law associate dean Paolo Tamase, the 10-member bloc of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano could no longer boycott the special session as doing so would be tantamount to handing over the leadership to acting Senate president Sherwin Gatchalian, who Malacañang recognizes as the new head of the chamber.

President Marcos has yet to issue a proclamation calling for a special session of Congress, but Malacañang said it would urgently accede to an official request submitted by Gatchalian.

“If the 10 refuse to attend the session and the 12 do, then the 12 will insist on quorum—applying Avelino doctrine, which many across government, academia, and civil society appear to have embraced—and they will exercise the Senate’s powers,” Tamase told the Inquirer on Sunday.

“That might create a pressure on one or some of the 10 to jump ship in favor of a functioning Senate, whose legislative work has been held hostage for the last weeks,” he added.

Malacañang told the Senate to resolve its internal squabble before President Marcos delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address and formally opens the second regular session of the 20th Congress on July 27.

According to Tamase, the special session would be the perfect avenue to finally resolve its issues, saying the almost two-month break should not stop the senators from electing its rightful leader.

“Congress exercises its legislative power during this special session: as the power to elect its own leader—really, its presiding officer—is closely connected to its legislative power, then it should be able to exercise it further to the fulfillment of the special session agenda,” he explained.

READ: Gatchalian yet to ask Marcos for special Senate session

The President can call for a special session “at any time” to consider urgent legislative measures or subjects they designate, under Article VI, Section 15 of the Constitution.

The last time a special session of Congress was called was in 2020.

Then-President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 1027, calling for a special session from Oct. 13 to 16, 2020 to resume the congressional deliberations on the proposed 2021 national budget and pass it in time, following a leadership impasse at the House of Representatives.

At that time, Cayetano, who was then Speaker, refused to honor a term-sharing agreement with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco.

It was during the special session that Cayetano was ousted and Velasco was installed as Speaker, obtaining the support of 186 representatives, more than the majority of the Houses’ 299 members at that time.

While President Marcos recognizes the separation of powers between the executive and legislative as co-equal branches of the government, it did not stop Malacañang from only acknowledging Gatchalian’s leadership.

“He should stop insisting that he is still the Senate leader since no one acknowledges his leadership,” Castro said in an interview on dzBB on Sunday, referring to Cayetano.

She pointed out that even the House of Representatives and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines also recognize Gatchalian as Senate’s de facto Senate president.

While a consensus among constitutional law academics and scholars raises that 13 votes are still necessary to elect a permanent Senate president, Tamase explained that “there’s a very persuasive view that a Senate president who possibly is no longer supported by that same number cannot hold the entire chamber hostage.”

After all, Gatchalian leads the current majority of senators at 12, while Cayetano only has the backing of 10.

READ: Gatchalian acting Senate president as Escudero ends deadlock

This came after Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero broke the deadlock by switching sides and joining the former “Solid Bloc 11” to become the new majority. In doing so, the Senate achieved a quorum of 12 senators on June 3, before the chamber went on a sine die adjournment.

According to Gatchalian, the Senate effectively has only 22 members over whom jurisdiction may currently be exercised. Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa remains beyond the Senate’s coercive reach while reportedly evading an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, while Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has been detained following his arrest on plunder and graft charges last Monday.

Just politics

For Tamase, Malacañang’s pronouncements were not yet an overreach of the executive on Senate’s independence, saying the President’s comment on congressional leadership changes or even voicing out his preferred leader over another was just part of partisan politics.

“It only becomes impermissible interference when one branch imposes or forces its will upon another branch. Short of that, it’s simply politics, which our constitutional system does not prohibit,” he said.

In a democracy like the Philippines, Tamase said, leadership changes in the policy-making branches, especially those of elected bodies such as the Senate, are determined by politics, not by the law.

“The law—the Constitution, the Senate’s Rules and precedents—is only there to prevent a group from claiming that they are the majority when they are not, to preserve the rights of the minority to still participate in democratic discourse and policymaking, and to preserve an orderly transfer of power,” he added.

According to Malacañang, many legislative measures are being disrupted because of the Senate leadership feud, which has been going on for a month, “and the President does not want the work of the Senate to be delayed.“

Marcos earlier said the Senate needed to get back to work as the executive branch plans to seek Congress approval for a supplemental budget and pass legislation to be able to provide help to Filipinos amid the persistent oil and price shocks brought by the Middle East crisis.

He also wanted the Congress to enact a number of the administration’s priority legislations before his fifth Sona on July 27, including bills to fully abolish the travel tax and to ban political dynasties.

Castro said the ongoing internal conflict in the Senate, which does not show signs of full resolution, could affect the messaging of Marcos’ Sona.

“But the President will remain focused on his goals and on pushing for the bills he wants for the benefit of the Filipino people,” she added. /cb