Sotto: Senate may have no elected president until late July

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MANILA, Philippines — The Senate will likely have no elected president until late July unless President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. calls a special session, Sen. Tito Sotto III said Wednesday, June 3.

A bloc of 12 senators led by Sotto removed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday, but fell one vote short of electing his replacement. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is now the acting leader after being elected Senate president pro tempore by the group that has assumed as the majority bloc. 

"There is no Senate president. The acting Senate president is the president pro tempore," Sotto said in an interview web show "Facts First."

A simple majority or 12 senators can declare all seats vacant, essentially remove the Senate's leaders, Sotto said, but the Constitution requires 13 votes to elect a new one.  

The Senate has since adjourned and will not meet again until late July. Until then, the only way to choose a leader is a special session, and only the president can call one.

"If this president calls for a special session, then we will be able to tackle all those problems," Sotto said. The bloc could elect a leader as early as next week, he added, if Marcos agrees.

Marcos has not said he will. He told reporters Wednesday that the government was "examining" its options, but that any solution depended on the senators. "We cannot tell them what to do," he said.

The deadlock has frozen important Senate business, Sotto said. The Commission on Appointments, which the Senate president heads, has not met since mid-May, leaving the promotions of several generals and other confirmations on hold.

Cayetano disputes the takeover that happened Wesneday. In a Facebook livestream, he said he remains "the legitimate, legal, moral Senate president" and called it an illegal coup.  

Impeachment court is 'isolated'

The Sotto-led bloc yesterday also adopted a resolution allowing Senate leadership to designate a presiding officer for the impeachment court in the event of a vacancy or leadership dispute.

Ultimately, Sotto said he did not believe the fractures in the Senate would derail the impeachment process.

"I have been listening to the constitutionalists," he said. "They have been saying that the Senate, the impeachment court, is isolated."

"We follow the rules, and there are rules that are in place for impeachment," he added.

Committee powers

Sotto also disputed efforts by Cayetano's camp to continue exercising committee powers after the leadership shakeup.

Senators yesterday elected Sen. Erwin Tulfo as the new chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee. Tulfo had moved a planned flood-control hearing from Thursday, June 4, to Monday next week, Sotto said.

"If there is any hearing ... that will be a meeting of somebody, but it's not definitely a legitimate Senate Blue Ribbon hearing," he said.

The Senate leadership shakeup took place after former Senate President Francis Escudero attended the session, allowing senators opposing Cayetano to secure a quorum and proceed with votes that removed elected Senate officers and reorganized leadership posts.

Sotto said Escudero acted out of a sense of duty and denied there had been any agreement in exchange for his attendance.  — Cristina Chi