Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has publicly criticized The Manila Times and other newspapers for what he says is their failure to report that he remains the Senate President, according to coverage of his remarks circulated this week.
The complaint follows a contested leadership shake-up at the upper chamber. Rappler reported that Cayetano insists he is still Senate President after senators elected Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and named him acting Senate President on Wednesday, June 3. Cayetano’s argument, as reported by Philstar, rests on the vote count: he contends that because the senators present did not muster 13 votes, they could not validly elect a Senate President or authorize anyone to act in that role.
The bloc that moved against him takes the opposite view. As Senator Erwin Tulfo said in a statement on behalf of 12 senators quoted by GMA News, Cayetano is no longer Senate President after the chamber — with 12 senators present and a quorum declared under the Avelino v. Cuenco precedent — voted to declare all positions vacant, including the presidency. The same statement acknowledged that Gatchalian has not yet been formally installed, as that step requires 13 votes under the Constitution.
That unresolved dispute has shaped how outlets describe Cayetano’s status. The Manila Times referred to the faction of the “ousted” Senate President, placing the word in quotation marks to signal the dispute, while Philstar characterized his position as being “in limbo” following the quorum maneuver.
Earlier in the week, the Senate minority bloc, in a statement read by Tulfo and reported by Rappler, called on Cayetano to resign, saying he could no longer function as the chamber’s leader after the majority bloc he led boycotted two consecutive plenary sessions.
