Senator Joel Villanueva signaled a return to legislative business with a brief social media post — “Let’s get back to work” — minutes after he helped install Sherwin Gatchalian as the new Senate President during a special session on Wednesday, June 17.
Villanueva, who had belonged to the bloc of ousted Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, joined the Gatchalian-led majority at the session, supplying the 13th vote needed to formally elect a permanent Senate President. Until that morning, Cayetano had disputed Gatchalian’s claim to the post, which Gatchalian had held in an acting capacity since June 3. According to Rappler, Cayetano conceded the presidency about an hour before the session began, after Villanueva informed him of his decision to back Gatchalian.
Gatchalian was nominated by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and elected by acclamation, with all 13 senators present voting in his favor. He was sworn in by Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who was elected Senate President Pro Tempore at the same session — a post Sotto held before he was unseated earlier this year.
The special session was convened at the direction of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who on June 15 urged Congress to act on stalled priority measures and pending appointments that had been frozen during the two-week leadership standoff. Members of the Cayetano bloc, including Pia Cayetano, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla, Loren Legarda, and siblings Camille and Mark Villar, were absent.
Villanueva had foreshadowed the move a day earlier. In a video message to his church, he said he was ready to attend the session because senators needed to go back to work — the same sentiment he carried into his post once the new leadership was sealed.
