Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano is not stepping aside quietly — and he is making that clear to anyone pushing for his removal.
Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, Cayetano issued a direct challenge to colleagues seeking to unseat him: produce 13 signatures, and he will not only step down but personally administer the oath of his successor.
“I’m at your service and I am at your disposal. Show me 13 hands or 13 signatures. I will even administer your oath if you want to,” he said in a privilege speech.
Cayetano has previously expressed willingness to support Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the candidate being pushed by the 11-member minority bloc to take the Senate presidency. He reiterated that position Monday.
The Senate chief also rejected calls for a “fresh start” under new leadership, saying his own assumption of the post already represented one — and that he was being targeted before he could even begin.
“Why? Wasn’t my arrival already a fresh start? I hadn’t even begun yet, and I was already being attacked,” he said.
He urged his colleagues to hold him accountable on his actual performance rather than on political pressure. “Judge me as Senate President every single day, every single week,” he said.
Cayetano also disputed the claim that the Senate had lost credibility on his watch, arguing that the institution’s standing had already eroded before he assumed the presidency — pointing to the flood control controversy that had drawn scrutiny toward members of the former minority bloc.
“The Senate’s credibility declined when the flood control issue began because some in the minority were mentioned,” he said.
That investigation had been led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson as chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. Lacson has since been removed from the chairmanship, with Cayetano’s sister, Sen. Pia Cayetano, taking over the panel as part of a broader committee reorganization under the new Senate leadership.
Cayetano assumed the Senate presidency on May 11, a day that was immediately overshadowed by a shooting incident between Senate security personnel and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation. Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who had resurfaced that day after months of absence to cast his vote for Cayetano, quietly left the chamber shortly after the incident.
Dela Rosa had been staying out of the public eye following an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court in connection with the deadly drug war he oversaw as chief of the Philippine National Police under the Duterte administration.
