Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian and Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who lead opposing blocs in the chamber, gave the same answer this week when asked whether Sen. Mark Villar had crossed over to the majority: he had not.
The question arose after Wednesday, September 23, when the Senate impeachment court reversed the July 6 ruling of presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero that 16 votes, or two-thirds of the full 24-member Senate, were needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte. The new ruling bases the two-thirds threshold on senator-judges who are legally and factually capable of taking part in the trial. The Daily Tribune reported the tally as 13-1, with Escudero casting the only dissenting vote. The issue came from Sen. Erwin Tulfo’s September 8 appeal, which asked whether senators unable to participate should still count toward the threshold.
Villar was the only minority member who stayed and voted. Earlier that day, Cayetano had tried to stop the court from proceeding and argued that the Supreme Court should settle the question. His motion lost 13-6, and Villar abstained. When the session resumed after the lunch break, Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Christopher “Bong” Go, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla and Camille Villar, Mark Villar’s sister, did not take part in the threshold vote.
Cayetano was asked whether Villar’s vote pointed to a shift in his Senate alignment. “He’s staying with the minority,” he said.
According to the minority leader, the blocs that divide the chamber in legislative work do not exist once senators sit as judges. He also said minority members do not agree on votes in advance.
“In the impeachment court, to be very honest with you… We talk about legislation, sometimes, during the break. But there is no minority-majority when it comes to the impeachment court,” Cayetano said.
“If there is a question, more of a question… But we don’t have, ‘Oh how should we vote together?'” he added. He said there was no ill will within the group.
On Thursday, Gatchalian told reporters that Villar’s vote concerned only the overturning of the presiding officer’s ruling and was not a vote for either the majority or the minority.
The Freeman noted that the Villar family faces a preliminary investigation by the Ombudsman over graft allegations. The complaints come from residents’ grievances about the water services of PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp., which the Villars formerly ran.
Marcos said she did not blame Mark Villar for breaking with the bloc, pointing to pressure she said was being put on opposition senators. “We know what he’s going through… You know what’s happening to the minority. We’re all being relentlessly attacked,” she told reporters in Filipino, as quoted by the Daily Tribune.
