Senate coups and weak institutions

This week saw another attempted coup in the Senate. Rumors have been circulating since Monday that the minority bloc led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano was on the verge of gaining sufficient numbers to remove Senate President Tito Sotto. It was also heard during mid-week that the next leader of the Senate would be a woman, which, aside from the tense power dynamics, would mark a historic first in the chamber’s century-plus existence.

For the first time, Cayetano, who had repeatedly denied plotting against Sotto, spoke with noticeable confidence. He said that he was hearing complaints from colleagues that the current Senate leadership was “preoccupied with campaigning rather than governing,” a clear predicate for a leadership challenge. Pressed on whether they were seeking to install a new leadership, Cayetano framed the effort as a natural aspiration. He said that all minority blocs ultimately want to become the majority.

However, just as momentum had started building in favor of the attempted coup, with rumors saying that Sen. Loren Legarda was going to replace Sotto, the majority successfully blocked the move. Media sources quoted Sotto as saying that the effort to remove him failed because the majority banded together to prevent it.

In what is now described as an “understanding” rather than a “power-sharing” scheme, as earlier reported, Sotto said that they plan to elect Legarda as Senate president toward the end of the 20th Congress. This, they say, will make her the first woman to lead the Senate in its 109-year history.

The impact was immediate and devastating to the minority. What Cayetano’s bloc had hoped would be its opening, using Legarda to draw senators away from Sotto, collapsed when Legarda chose to stick it out with the majority. Instead of becoming the minority’s standard-bearer, she is now part of the majority’s succession plan. This was made strikingly clear last Wednesday, when the session resumed with the majority allowing Legarda to preside over the plenary to adjourn it, sending a strong message to all that the coup was effectively crushed. Notably, the minority senators were conspicuously absent. And why wouldn’t they? Their push for a leadership change was not only thwarted, but the Sotto-led majority also took the minority’s coup as its own.

But the question is, how long can Sotto keep this up? His grip on the majority remains precarious. Unlike the minority, which is relatively homogeneous in political agenda, perspective and loyalty to the Dutertes, the majority is a heterogeneous bloc. Reformers such as Senate Pro Tempore Ping Lacson, Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino share the table with the Villars, who are mired in controversies from both left and right, the accused plunderer Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Pia Cayetano. This is precisely where the minority’s leverage lies. The minority can still convince several majority senators. Sotto faces no such opportunity in the minority.

This dynamic exposes the true motivations behind recent attempts at Senate leadership changes. Rather than competing visions, different ideologies or differing policy issues, two triggers have been identified. First, the leaked draft report from the Lacson-led Blue Ribbon committee recommending charges be filed against those senators (both majority and minority) accused of involvement in the multibillion-peso flood control corruption scandal. Second, the possibility of new articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte arriving in the Senate.

This also shows us how weak our democratic institutions are. Our elites have repurposed formal structures of power that were established to represent citizens, provide accountability for elected officials and push for reforms as battlegrounds for dynastic battles. The Senate is repeatedly being used as a bargaining arena where leadership changes are not meant to promote better policies but to evade accountability, circumvent justice and roll back reforms that threaten entrenched interests.

Our institutions have also been invaded by foreign interests. The Senate, which has housed some of our most renowned patriots such as Claro M. Recto, Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno, Wigberto Tañada, Jovito Salonga and Rene Saguisag, and the same Senate that expelled the US military bases, is now being utilized as a forum to promote China’s fantasy about the West Philippine Sea. Beijing is practically represented on the floor by Sens. Robin Padilla and Rodante Marcoleta, who parrot Chinese propaganda with alarming enthusiasm.

Marcoleta went as far as to suggest giving up the Kalayaan Islands Group (KIG), citing that it is outside of our EEZ. It was so absurd and treacherous that it was quickly demolished by Lacson, UP Law Professor Jay Batongbacal and retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio – who all said that the KIG is an integral part of Philippine territory based on effective control, continuous civilian presence and numerous laws.

Fortunately, there is a pushback happening inside the chamber. Sotto, as Senate President, has begun undoing some of the institutional damage left by his predecessor. Under his watch, the first-ever open bicameral budget process was conducted. He also helped steer a budget that is relatively better than in 2025 and publicly vowed to fulfill the Senate’s constitutional duty on impeachment.

Lacson, for his part, is bringing back the Blue Ribbon committee as a venue for both truth and accountability. Hontiveros, now chair of the committee on electoral reforms, has already moved to expedite the deliberation of the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill. Meanwhile, Pangilinan is dismantling Marcoleta’s treacherous antics in relation to the West Philippine Sea.

They represent a promising line of institutional defense. But they are not enough. Citizens must stand guard. Let’s send a clear message that we will not accept any compromise that shields corrupt senators from accountability for the sake of preserving a fragile peace. 

After all, it is the people, not politicians, who ensure that our institutions are strong and democratic.