Only one senator

Only one senator.

That is the simple solution to the current impasse in the Senate that has deteriorated into a political crisis that threatens the political stability and economic viability of the Philippines.

On the wrong side of history, that one senator is Alan Peter Cayetano. He is wicked like the Devil. He is ambitious like a true despot. He is corrupt like Caligula, one of Rome’s most corrupt and tyrannical rulers. If APC gives up his overweening desire to keep the Senate presidency, he solves the impasse ruining the Senate and the country.

APC is correct. It takes 13 senators – the majority of 24 – to elect the Senate president. Article VI, Section 16(1) of the 1987 Philippine Constitution mandates that the Senate shall elect its president by a majority vote of all its members.

APC was elected with 13 votes during the Senate coup of May 11, 2026, thanks to the cowardly senator Bato dela Rosa who showed up after six months of absence, with colossal pay, to cast the 13th vote. To show his eternal gratitude, APC simulated an “attack” on the Senate May 13 and 14 to create the cover of chaos and darkness to enable the cowardly ex-general senator to escape. Bato sought relief from the Supreme Court to stop his arrest by local agents of the International Criminal Court for alleged crime against humanity (he and president Duterte allegedly killed between 6,300 and 30,000 victims). Instead, the SC forthwith declared the Great Senate Coward a fugitive from justice.

Under the terms of engagement of the war on drugs of Digong Duterte and his chief executioner, General Bato, if you are a fugitive from justice you can be shot dead on the spot by any law enforcement officer. In fact, any citizen can shoot a fugitive from justice, dead. Simply invoke self-defense – nanlaban.

APC is nan-lalaban, fighting back to keep his Senate “presidency.” But he is not a fugitive from justice – yet. So nobody can shoot him to break the Senate deadlock.

If indeed it is true APC is still the Senate president, all he needs to do is call the Senate to a session. If 13 or more show up, then he is indeed still the Senate president. If only 10 show up, physically, for the session, that is not a Senate. Because 10 is not majority of either 22 (the effective number of senators able to attend a session) or 24 (the absolute number of senators).

Frankly, at this stage, APC is Senate president in name only.

He has no followers – except the nine other active DDS (Diehard Duterte Supporter) senators.

He has no powers. When he asked the relevant Senate officers to make a setup for his so-called Blue Ribbon committee hearing on Thursday, June 4, nobody listened to him.

So nobody, except him, administered the oath to the so-called “18 Marines” nobody put name plates on the desk of the “18 Marines,” nobody recorded, officially, the testimony of the “18 Marines.” That made the carefully curated testimonies of the “18 Marines;” nothing but marites, gossip or hearsay, with no probative or evidentiary value.

The wisdom of the landmark 1949 Supreme Court case of Avelino v. Cuenco is now cited to establish that the quorum denominator can change based on the number of members physically within the coercive jurisdiction of the Senate.

The operative word is “coerce” which in plain English says “to persuade or compel someone to do something they are unwilling to do by using force, threats or intimidation.”

Bato dela Rosa cannot be coerced to show up because he is hiding and is a fugitive. He is a coward, di ba?

Jinggoy Estrada cannot be coerced to show up at the Senate because he is now under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan for two graft cases and a plunder case. All three cases are being heard simultaneously, that is why the notorious alleged repeat plunderer (three times na) can be seen on video, hands handcuffed and wearing a yellow PDL (person denied liberty, meaning a prisoner) t-shirt, attending sessions, almost daily, in a court of law – in three divisions of the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.

That leaves only 22 senators under the Senate’s coercive jurisdiction. If senators are outside the country’s jurisdiction or under detention, the Senate may legally operate with a quorum based on the remaining members within their coercive jurisdiction – 12 out of 22 or 23 members, says Avelino v. Cuenco.

Under Senate rules, a vote on any issue can be done only two ways – by viva voce or by roll call. Proof of quorum is a roll call. Either instance requires physical presence of the senator.

So on June 4 when 12 senators showed up for the last day of the session, that was a quorum – 12 being majority of 22. Majority means one half plus one. One half of 22 is 11. Plus one is 12.

With a quorum, the Senate in session wields primary powers – pass laws, conduct inquiries in aid of legislation, ratify treaties and try impeachment cases. If the Senate in session can do these things, it can also reorganize itself, name its officers, except the Senate president who needs 13 votes to be elected. On June 4, with 12 senators, the majority of 22, the Senate in session reorganized itself. It elected the Senate president pro tempore, the majority leader, the minority leader, the chairpersons of its various committees.

Under the same Senate rules, in the absence of the Senate president (APC), the Senate president pro tempore is the acting Senate president. That is Win Gatchalian.

With the continuing absence of APC as Senate president, the acting Senate president, Win Gatchalian, will be the presiding officer of the Senate Impeachment Court when it convenes in July.

Under Senate impeachment trial rules, anytime the Senate president cannot preside over the impeachment trial, the Senate president pro tempore can preside – when the vice president is on trial.

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