The legitimacy of the Senate’s June 3 session rests on a long-standing chamber practice, Senate President Pro Tempore Win Gatchalian argued, pointing to official journals that he said repeatedly treated 12 members as sufficient to transact business whenever the roster of available senators dipped below full strength.
“Hindi natin pwedeng baguhin ang kasaysayan. Ang Senate records mismo ang nagpapatunay na hindi na bago ang nangyaring sesyon noong June 3 at ito ay lehitimo,” Gatchalian said.
His defense responds to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who maintains that any move to unseat the Senate President and reassign committee chairmanships requires 13 senators rather than 12. Cayetano’s bloc stayed away from the plenary from June 1 onward, and Gatchalian’s elevation came only after Sen. Chiz Escudero appeared and gave those present the numbers to act. Both the House of Representatives and Malacañang have since treated Gatchalian as the chamber’s leader, brushing aside Cayetano’s objection.
Reaching back nearly two decades, Gatchalian laid out a series of sessions he said establish the threshold. In 2008 and 2009, with the chamber down to 23 after Alfredo Lim left to become Manila mayor and with Antonio Trillanes IV in detention, the Senate recognized a quorum of 12 on May 21, 2008 and again on Feb. 11, 2009. The pattern recurred on Sept. 29, 2010, when Benigno Aquino III had vacated his seat for the presidency and Trillanes was still detained, leaving 12 members to validly convene out of 23.
Similar counts followed in the years after. On May 8 and 15, 2012, the chamber proceeded with 12 present as colleagues were on sick leave, official missions, or late to the roll. In 2015, the calculation shifted twice: on May 5 and again on June 2, with four senators abroad and Juan Ponce Enrile, Bong Revilla, and Jinggoy Estrada detained, the presiding officer declared a valid quorum off the 12 physically in the hall. The most recent example Gatchalian cited fell on May 23, 2020, when 12 sufficed amid Leila de Lima’s detention and other absences.
The chamber’s website, along with the record of the June 3 proceedings, identifies Gatchalian by the title of Senate President Pro Tempore — the post that carries leadership authority while the presidency itself sits empty.
Underpinning the bloc’s legal reasoning is Avelino v. Cuenco, the Supreme Court ruling that allows the Senate to do business on a quorum drawn from its functioning, reachable membership rather than its nominal full count.
