Former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV is cautioning the senators now controlling the chamber against treating Alan Peter Cayetano as a spent force, arguing that the embattled lawmaker remains capable of engineering disruptions that could throw the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte off course.
Speaking on One PH’s “Sa Totoo Lang,” Trillanes said members of the Senate majority would be making a mistake to assume Cayetano has run out of options. In his view, the senator has shown a willingness to manufacture spectacle when it serves his political survival, and the chamber’s leaders should expect more of the same.
He pointed to the chaotic events of May 13 inside the Senate as an example of the kind of maneuvering he believes Cayetano is prepared to repeat. “Kita niyo ‘yung ginawa niyang gimik na gumawa sila ng shooting incident doon sa Senado at kine-claim niya… na sinugod daw ‘yung Senado,” Trillanes said.
That evening, gunfire broke out at the Senate’s premises in the GSIS building as Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, wanted by the International Criminal Court over the Duterte-era drug war, evaded an attempted arrest. The shots coincided with the arrival of the articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives. Cayetano, then serving as Senate President, went on Facebook Live to declare the chamber “under attack” by people he said had posed as NBI agents. Investigators later found that most of the gunfire consisted of warning shots fired by the Senate’s own security office, and the NBI denied deploying anyone to the building that night.
Trillanes framed that episode as evidence that his opponents are willing to reach for tactics most people would never anticipate. “He will try to gaslight everybody still. Tayo, hindi natin naisip ‘yung mga ganoong eskandalo na gagamitin niya to protect his interests,” he said.
Cayetano’s standing in the chamber has shifted sharply since then. Installed as Senate President on May 11 by a Duterte-aligned bloc that ousted Tito Sotto, he held a slim 13-member majority before losing the post on June 3, when 12 senators convened, declared all leadership positions vacant, and elevated Sherwin Gatchalian to acting Senate President. Cayetano continues to dispute the legality of that move.
The vice president’s trial is set to open on July 6, with at least 16 of the 24 senators required to vote for conviction on any single article for her to be removed from office and barred from holding public position again.
