The team tasked with prosecuting Vice President Sara Duterte before the impeachment court will take its cues from acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro confirmed Thursday, as a leadership dispute continues to split the chamber.
Speaking in an online interview, Luistro framed the decision as a matter of institutional alignment rather than personal preference. Because the eleven-member prosecution panel answers to the House of Representatives, she said, it will recognize whatever Senate leadership the House itself recognizes.
That distinction matters because two camps are currently claiming authority over the Senate. Luistro said the House had already settled the question on its end, pointing to Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III, who extended congratulations to Gatchalian on Wednesday.
“I think it is logical that we follow the position of the House of Representatives, and yesterday, I understand, the House of Representatives recognized the new leadership of the Senate, and that is through the acting [the] Senate president, Sen. Win Gatchalian,” she said.
She added that the executive branch had taken the same view: “I understand that yesterday, the Palace, which represents the executive branch, also recognized the new Senate leadership.”
Gatchalian rose to his current standing on Wednesday, when senators elected him Senate president pro tempore in place of Sen. Loren Legarda. Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri was chosen majority leader during the same session. Luistro was explicit about whose orders the panel would honor going forward: “With all due respect to the previous leadership, we will follow the instruction and order coming from the new leadership. Again, the reason is we are just following the direction of the institution. And since the House of Representatives has already recognized the new leadership, it means the 11 prosecutors should also follow that leadership.”
The prosecutor acknowledged that the ongoing exchange of hostilities between the rival blocs has unsettled lawmakers, describing a situation that “causes apprehensions.”
How the Senate arrived at this point
Wednesday’s session was only possible because the chamber finally mustered a quorum. The deadlock broke when Sen. Francis Escudero, a majority member, showed up — ending a stretch in which no legislative work had moved forward.
The stalemate traced back to May 26, when the minority bloc walked out as the majority moved to take up a proposed rules amendment from Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. Marcoleta wanted the rules altered to permit online voting, but minority senators objected to the speed of the push and questioned why the change was being advanced by motion rather than by resolution. The majority retaliated by staying away from the chamber the following Monday and Tuesday, leaving the Senate unable to function on either day.
The drawn-out absences prompted warnings that the chamber risked breaching the Constitution. Deputy Speaker Albee Benitez had earlier flagged Article VI, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution, which bars either chamber from adjourning for more than three days without the other’s consent, or from relocating elsewhere than where both Houses sit.
A rift weeks in the making
The leadership tug-of-war between Gatchalian and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is the newest chapter in turmoil that has gripped the Senate since mid-May. Cayetano had taken the Senate presidency after Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s return tilted the numbers toward his side — the same dela Rosa who later dodged NBI agents attempting to serve an arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court.
The unrest turned physical on May 13, when gunshots rang out inside the Senate. Cayetano’s camp alleged an assault by NBI personnel posted at the neighboring Government Service Insurance System building; both structures sit within the GSIS compound in Pasay City. The NBI countered that GSIS had asked it to secure the premises. A preliminary inquiry pointed to acting Sergeant-at-Arms Ma.O. Aplasca as the source of the first warning shot, with police investigators characterizing the shots fired as excessive.
The impeachment proceeding driving much of this maneuvering stems from the House vote on May 11, when 257 members backed House Resolution No. 989 carrying the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte. Proceedings before the Senate Impeachment Court are slated to open on July 6.
