Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson took another swipe at Alan Peter Cayetano on Sunday, June 7, ridiculing the embattled lawmaker’s reliance on social media broadcasts and questioning whether he can still claim to lead the Senate at all.
In a post on X, Lacson reworked a familiar courtroom maxim to land his jab. “When you’re strong on the law, pound the law. When you’re strong on the facts, pound the facts. When you’re weak on both, mag-Facebook Live ka na lang (just do Facebook Live),” he wrote, as reported by The Manila Times. The senator’s official website carried the same statement under the headline asking what Cayetano now is, given that he is, in Lacson’s telling, no longer recognized as Senate leader.
The remark builds on a line of attack Lacson has pressed for more than a week. According to a statement posted on the Senate’s website, Lacson said Cayetano’s “penchant for livestreaming — including running the Senate via Facebook Live — reflects his weakness on both the law and the facts.” He posed the question directly: “The Executive Department, House of Representatives, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, law deans, law professors, former Senate presidents and many others do not recognize Senator Alan Cayetano as the President of the Senate. So, what is he?”
The taunt comes amid an unresolved leadership crisis in the upper chamber. As the Philippine News Agency and GMA News Online reported, the Senate adjourned sine die on June 3 after 12 senators declared all leadership positions vacant, with Senator Sherwin Gatchalian named Senate President Pro Tempore and acting Senate President. The Tribune noted that Senator Francis Escudero’s defection from the Cayetano camp gave the rival bloc the numbers it needed to constitute a quorum. Cayetano has rejected the move, telling supporters in a Facebook Live broadcast that it amounts to an “illegal coup d’etat” and insisting that 13 votes — not 12 — are required to unseat a Senate president, as cited by GMA News Online.
Lacson also dismissed Cayetano’s recent claim that he colluded with Malacañang to pin the flood control scandal on select figures while shielding others. Per the Manila Bulletin, the senator pointed to the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan’s validation of the Blue Ribbon Committee’s findings to rebut the accusation.
Sunday’s post is the latest in a string of digs by Lacson at the Cayetano siblings over their use of livestreaming. Last month, Philstar.com reported, he mocked Senator Pia Cayetano’s emotional remarks following the May Senate shooting, while DZRH documented his earlier “What a mess!” rebuke of Alan Peter Cayetano for delivering speeches on Facebook rather than on the Senate floor.
