Principles, not power.
This is what Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and his bloc are fighting for in filing a petition before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging the validity of the declaration of quorum during the June 3 “rump” session and the election of Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and subsequent designation as Acting Senate President.
“Yung posisyon, bale-wala sa akin ‘yun. Ang pinaglalaban namin ay prinsipyo, hindi power,” Cayetano said in a Facebook livestream on June 16, 2026.
In their more than 80-page petition for certiorari and prohibition, Cayetano and his colleagues argued that the June 3 quorum was invalid, making all acts that followed invalid as well, including the supposed election of Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore.
The petition rejects the claim that 12 senators were enough under the ruling in Avelino v. Cuenco, saying the respondents mistakenly relied on the case.
According to the petition, Avelino does not automatically allow the quorum base to be lowered simply because some senators are absent. There must be a valid reason, such as senators being outside Philippine jurisdiction, and no such declaration was made during the June 3 session. It maintained that there were 24 sitting senators at the time, and none had died, resigned, or been removed from office.
The petition also argues that even assuming there was a quorum, Gatchalian was still not validly elected Senate President Pro Tempore because 12 votes are not enough to elect Senate officers.
It cites Section 2, Rule II of the Senate Rules, which provides that Senate officers must be elected by a “majority vote of all its members.” Since the Senate has 24 members, the petition says the required majority is 13 votes.
“Questions of this magnitude must be resolved through law, not through pressure or political convenience,” Cayetano said.
He said he had to be “persistent” on the issue, not to hold on to his position but to ensure that the truth under the Constitution is upheld now and in the future.
“If constitutional rules can be disregarded whenever they become inconvenient, then every future investigation, every future oversight function, and every future effort to hold power accountable becomes vulnerable to the same treatment,” he said in an official statement posted on his Facebook page.
“The issue will determine our kind of democracy, our kind of government. It will also be a lesson to all senators when it comes to power and restraint in following rules. ‘Pag walang rules, walang batas, chaos po tayo. Ang mangyayari, kung sino ang malakas boses, maraming baril mas maraming pera,” he added in a livestream.
Cayetano maintained that he is ready to yield the Senate presidency if the other bloc can muster the required 13 votes, acknowledging that “leadership positions are temporary stewardships.”
However, he warned that the truth behind the flood control scandal could be buried if the next Senate leadership is controlled by Malacañang.
“Sabi naman namin kung 13 sila, kayo na mamuno. Pero kung sila ulit mamuno, ano ibu-bury na natin y’ung flood control?” he said.
“In the end, it’s all about the flood control scandal and how [they] protect the mastermind and how [they] protect Malacanang,” he added.
Cayetano said he trusts the Supreme Court and its role in settling constitutional disputes for the good of the country.
“The Supreme Court exists precisely for moments like this. Its role is not to choose sides in a political dispute but to determine whether the Constitution was followed,” he said in his post.
“There are really times na nasa crossroads ang ating bansa at kapag hindi tayo kumilos, it will determine the future of the next generation,” he added.
