Two consecutive days of stalled plenary sessions have pushed the Senate’s minority into an unusual recruitment pitch: an open call for members of the rival majority to cross the aisle.
Speaking at a joint press conference on Tuesday, Sen. Bam Aquino confirmed that the Solid Bloc 11 was extending the offer to the chamber’s larger faction. Asked directly whether the minority was courting majority members to switch sides, he said: “Yes. Why not?” Pressed on which senators they had in mind, he kept it broad: “Lahat sila.”
The appeal carried one explicit exception. Sen. Raffy Tulfo welcomed the prospect of defectors but drew a hard line at Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who would not be part of any invitation.
“Pwera lang si Alan Peter. Lahat inimbita namin. Sumanib kayo sa amin. Pero si Alan Peter, steady ka lang dyan,” Tulfo said.
The friction traces back to a leadership shake-up in which 13 senators moved to vacate all chamber posts, removing former Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and installing Cayetano, the one-time minority leader, in his place. Sotto has since aligned with the minority, whose 11 members also include Juan Miguel Zubiri, Francis Pangilinan, Panfilo Lacson, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Lito Lapid and Erwin Tulfo.
Neither Monday’s nor Tuesday’s session managed to open. On both days the majority, Cayetano included, stayed away, leaving only minority members inside the plenary hall. Under the chamber’s rules, the Senate President must convene a session, and without him and a quorum the body cannot be called to order. The minority waited for more than two hours on Monday before dispersing.
The standoff has unfolded alongside the detention of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada on plunder and graft charges tied to flood control projects, and the continued absence from public view of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. Those two developments have trimmed the majority’s effective voting strength.
In the same briefing, the minority pressed Cayetano to step down. “Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano should resign as he has shown that he cannot function as the leader of the Senate,” the group said in a joint statement.
Raffy Tulfo, who has repeatedly criticized Cayetano for airing his position on Facebook rather than on the floor, dared him to appear at Wednesday’s session. “Hinahamon ko si Alan Peter Cayetano, kung matapang ka pumunta ka dito bukas, otherwise duwag ka,” he said.
Aquino, meanwhile, framed the Wednesday appeal around duty. “We appeal to our colleagues who still care about the Senate and who want to work for the Filipino people to attend tomorrow’s session. Let us meet here,” he said.
