The factional standoff gripping the Senate could be tilting toward Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, with Sen. JV Ejercito signaling on Monday, June 8, that the deciding 13th vote may already be within his bloc’s grasp.
Pressed on whether Gatchalian’s group had pulled in an additional senator to overcome the stalemate with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s camp, Ejercito left the door open.
“We don’t know. Maybe. Anything can happen – with this thin (numbers). No knowledge yet,” he said.
Talk of defections toward Gatchalian had been circulating for some time, intensifying after Sen. Francis Escudero unexpectedly showed up at the final session day the previous week. Sen. Joel Villanueva is now seen as another likely candidate to cross over, though nothing has been verified. Both Villanueva and Escudero are confronting potential criminal exposure tied to the flood control controversy.
Ejercito also took aim at a proposal floated by former Senate president Franklin Drilon, who had called on President Marcos to step in directly and untangle the leadership impasse that has frozen action on pending legislation. According to Ejercito, the President grasps the limits set by the Constitution and would rather let senators sort out their own reorganization.
“To my knowledge, President Marcos respects the Senate because he had served here and he knows how the Senate behaves, he knows the characters,” he explained.
He framed the way forward as a matter for the senators themselves, calling on his feuding peers to pull back from confrontation.
“I making this appeal. I’m saying I hope we forgo our personal differences. Let us save the institution more than anything,” he said.
From the Palace side, the conversation has shifted toward a possible special session. Press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro told reporters Monday that preparatory talks were already in motion when asked whether Marcos intended to sit down with lawmakers on the matter.
“Meetings are already being held with regard to that,” Castro said at a briefing.
The administration has been trying to revive priority measures stranded by the Senate turmoil, among them funding to cushion the domestic fallout from the Middle East conflict — initiatives Castro had earlier said the President was “inclined” to advance through a special session.
Castro restated Malacañang’s position that it acknowledges only Gatchalian as the chamber’s leader. She called Drilon’s idea of presidential intervention worth considering, while questioning its practical effect.
“The President is not closing his doors to those kinds of suggestions,” Castro said. “The question is: Will the suggestion work in the likes of Sen. Alan Cayetano?”
On the prospect of the Supreme Court resolving the dispute, she said the matter would rest with the judiciary if it reached that stage, but reiterated the Palace recognizes Gatchalian alone.
Castro further cautioned Cayetano against casting himself as aggrieved, after he warned Gatchalian not to become a tool of Malacañang.
“We hope that official will not act as if he was the victim,” she said, naming Cayetano. “Many became victims of the chaos in the Senate. The first victims were the people who believed in the integrity of the Senate. This chaos happened under the leadership of Senate President Alan Cayetano.”
For his part, Cayetano indicated his bloc would not stand in the way of a special session geared toward helping earthquake survivors in Mindanao.
“Any special session that will redound to the good of the Filipino people is welcome. The special session is in the Constitution,” he said.
Ejercito, meanwhile, noted that the chamber had yet to receive any formal notice that such a session would be convened.
