Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian has now drawn approval from ordinary Filipinos, not only from officials and institutions, according to Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, who pointed to the crowd’s reaction at Friday’s Independence Day commemoration as evidence.
The moment came at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ran through his usual acknowledgment of officials present and named Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore. Spectators responded with cheers and applause, which Lacson read as a verdict from the public.
“The cheering and applause this morning simply symbolized public acceptance and approval versus public disapproval and disgust. No need to mention here ‘who versus who,'” Lacson wrote on X.
For the senator, the reception settled any remaining question over which leadership commands recognition, even as the minority bloc keeps disputing it. He argued there is no longer room for doubt about whose authority should be followed in the chamber.
Gatchalian’s standing has already been affirmed by a string of state bodies and outside groups. Malacañang, the House of Representatives, the Civil Service Commission, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and several other organizations have all treated him as the acting Senate leader.
His election to both the pro tempore post and the acting presidency took place on June 3, ending a deadlock that had stalled Senate proceedings. The chamber had been frozen by a boycott mounted by the bloc of former Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, whose own term had been engulfed in controversy. The impasse broke when Sen. Francis Escudero sided with the majority to complete the 12-member quorum needed to convene.
