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MANILA, Philippines — Two ousted Senate committee chairs used their time on the plenary floor Tuesday, May 12, to press new Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on the fate of canceled hearings and stranded bills left by this week's surprise leadership coup.
Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros pushed for clarity on whether they could keep convening hearings and sponsoring bills they had been shepherding before 13 senators voted Monday to vacate all Senate seats and install Cayetano as the chamber's president.
Leadership coups in the Senate are not uncommon. This latest reshuffle was the second in less than a year, and the sixth that ousted Senate President Tito Sotto has lived through since 1992.
Sen. Ping Lacson, who lost his Senate president pro tempore post in the same vote, has described such coups as "as common as the daily sessions in the Senate" and likened them, under Philippine law, to rebellion — "a continuing crime."
Sotto, asked Monday about his ouster, told reporters: "I have experienced it around six times, from 1992 up to present. I serve on the pleasure of our peers."
On the floor Tuesday, Pangilinan and Hontiveros asked Cayetano whether they could keep working as ousted chairs, such as convening hearings and submitting finished committee reports, while the Senate reorganizes.
Cayetano explained they could, in a holdover capacity, until new committee assignments are read on the floor by May 18. But the incoming majority leader, once chosen, will decide which measures move and which wait.
Benguet farmers turned away
Pangilinan, until Monday the chair of the Senate agriculture and food panel, had scheduled a Tuesday hearing with farmers from Benguet. The hearing was canceled after the sudden shakeup.
Waya Araos-Wijangco, owner and chef at GypsyBaguio by Chef Waya, wrote in a Facebook post that the farmers were invited and came all the way to Manila to "share the realities they face, especially now, with fuel prices crushing already fragile livelihoods.”
Pangilinan responded in a comment under the post, saying: "My apologies, Waya, for the cancellation of the hearing as the Senate in yesterday's plenary session declared all positions vacant, which includes all committee chairmanships."
The senator met the farmers separately before the afternoon plenary.
“Whether or not we are Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, we will remain a sitting Senator and will continue as such in pushing for our agriculture and fisheries advocacies centering on empowering our food producers, our farmers and fisherfolk,” Pangilinan said.
Health, political dynasty bills disrupted
Hontiveros, who lost her posts as chair of the Senate committees on women, health and electoral reforms, listed several measures she had been sponsoring: the Anti-Hospital Detention bill, the Party-List Reform bill, the Anti-Political Dynasty bill, the Medical Assistance Program and the Healthcare Proxy Act.
The Anti-Hospital Detention bill would strengthen the prohibition on hospitals holding patients or remains of deceased patients over unpaid bills.
The Party-List Reform and Anti-Political Dynasty measures take aim at two longstanding criticisms of Philippine elections — the capture of the party-list system meant to represent marginalized sectors, and the dominance of political clans.
The Medical Assistance Program and Healthcare Proxy Act fall under the health committee Hontiveros chaired.
"Should this representation continue to sponsor and defend them on the floor, or is it correct that the leadership change has prevented this?" Hontiveros asked Cayetano.
Cayetano said authors and committee members technically retain the right to sponsor bills, because the former chair remains a member of the committee. But he deferred the call to the incoming majority leader on whether to take those measures up now or wait.
Sen. Joel Villanueva has so far agreed to serve in that role only on an acting basis, and Cayetano said he could not yet assign Villanueva to consult former chairs on which bills to bring to the floor.
"In our caucus this afternoon or tomorrow, we should have a permanent majority leader, at least until the body would like to pick someone else," Cayetano told her.
Cayetano also thanked Hontiveros for her work on the health committee. "We really need the Department of Health to shape up," he said, "and your work during your term as chairman of the Committee on Health is appreciated."
Hontiveros said she would continue pressing the measures regardless. "This representation knows that the Senate President is also keenly aware, including children's rights advocates, health workers, and political reform advocates, among others," she said.
Pangilinan and Cayetano clarify committee rules
The exchange between Pangilinan and Cayetano later evolved into a lengthy debate over Senate rules governing committee leadership.
Pangilinan proposed suspending the rules by unanimous consent to allow former committee chairs and members to continue working through the week.
"How can a committee convene or continue with its proceedings when there is no chairman and there are no members?" Pangilinan asked. "Members, chairpersons, and vice chairpersons are elected as a matter of courtesy and tradition. We declared all positions vacant."
Cayetano disagreed. He read Section 19 of the Senate rules, which states that committee chairs and members "shall cease when their successors shall have been elected or designated." Outgoing chairs, he said, continue in a holdover capacity by default, without need to suspend the rules.
"It is taught in law school that when there are rules, you have to interpret it in a logical way that makes it work," Cayetano said. He warned that suspending Section 19 would leave the chamber worse off, with no provision for continuity at all.
Pangilinan pressed back, however, and pointed out that the rule cited assumes there is still a chair, a vice chair and members. "We already declared all positions vacant. There are no chairpersons today, there are no vice chairpersons today, and there are no members of all these committees today."
Former Senate President Chiz Escudero — who himself was ousted in a coup by the Sotto-led majority last year — backed Cayetano's interpretation of the rule.
The committee chairs, he said, "shall continue until their successors shall have been designated and/or elected." And any bicameral conference work pending this week should proceed "so as not to cause any undue delay, without need of suspending the rules."
Lacson then offered a compromise that the body formally designate Pangilinan in holdover capacity "so he can be officially capacitated." Cayetano accepted, on condition that it tracked with Section 19.
Cayetano agreed to refer the broader dispute to the Committee on Rules for a formal ruling.
"At least we'll clear it up so that those who have important hearings will not need to cancel it," he said.
Pangilinan said he and the minority were ready to submit and sponsor committee reports this week, including measures on the citizenship of two of his colleagues — sponsored by Sen. Bong Go and Sen. Bam Aquino — and the bicam report on the expanded voucher program.
Cayetano said the sponsorships could be accommodated as early as Wednesday.
Only Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, who only reappeared Monday after hiding for seven months, has so far been assigned a new chairmanship after the powergrab: the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
Pro-Duterte leadership change
The Senate reshuffle came at a tumultuous moment for the chamber, which will soon be expected to convene as an impeachment court for Vice President Sara Duterte after the House of Representatives voted to impeach her earlier this week.
Many of the senators who backed Cayetano’s takeover are widely viewed as allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, including Senators Bong Go, Ronald dela Rosa, Robin Padilla and Imee Marcos, who nominated Cayetano for Senate president.
The Cayetano election also coincided with renewed tensions surrounding the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Duterte’s drug war. Dela Rosa, Duterte’s former police chief, returned to the Senate this week after a months-long absence, to be shielded from an ICC arrest warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity.
Cayetano has denied that the leadership change was meant to affect the impeachment proceedings against the vice president.
