Cayetano camp urges SC to rule on validity of June 3 Senate session

The camp of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday filed a manifestation reiterating its plea for the Supreme Court (SC) to decide on a petition seeking to declare the June 3 Senate session null and void. "Today nag-file din po ang ating mga abogado ng isang manifestation sa Supreme Court na nire-reiterate po ang finile natin na hinihingi na mag-desisyon ang Supreme Court sa ginawang alleged rump session ng labindalawang mga kasama natin sa Senado nung June 3," Cayetano said in a Facebook Live. (Our lawyers filed a manifestation with the SC today, reiterating our plea for the court to decide on our petition on the alleged rump session that our colleagues held last June 3.) In a 19-page manifestation and motion, Cayetano and his allies argued that the Senate special session and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s election as Senate President did not render the petition moot and academic. The petitioner argued that the petition seeks a definitive determination on whether the respondent senators lawfully convened, declared the existence of quorum, and elected Senate officers and committees, among others. “The petition continues to present real substantial constitutional questions regarding the proper application of the relevant constitutional provisions not only on quorum but on the threshold vote it requires,” it said. “This includes the phrase ‘all its members’ (and similar phrases) under Section 16, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution vis-a-vis Avelino, the principal authority invoked by the respondents to justify the June 3, 2026 rump session,” it added. The petitioners argued that the impact on the institutional integrity and practical workings of the Senate will be far reaching if the issues are not resolved at the earliest opportunity, such as the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. He said the SC ruling on the petition would have various implications, including the validity of the Senate blue ribbon committee led by Senator Erwin Tulfo. "Maraming implikasyon 'to. Isang implikasyon po nito 'yung Blue Ribbon hearing na ginawa nung susunod na araw na sinasabi po ni Senator Lacson, ni Senator Erwin Tulfo, ng administrasyon na 'yun po ay hindi tunay na Blue Ribbon hearing," he added. (The petition will have multiple implications, including the validity of the Tulfo-led Senate blue ribbon panel.) On June 16, some senators previously aligned with the majority bloc filed a petition seeking to declare as null and void the June 3 session, which elected Gatchalian as Senate President Pro-Tempore. The session also paved the way for leadership changes in the Senate committees. Cayetano, for his part, maintained the petition is not about the Senate presidency but "constitutional order". "It is not about the numbers, but it is about the moral boundaries and the law," he said. The senator also said the SC ruling may have implications for the looming impeachment trial. "Earlier, nasabi ko na, so ibig sabihin 12 pa lang sila noon, ngayon 13 na. So ibig po ba sabihin kapag six ang natanggal na senador o kinulong, 12 pwede nang i-convict ang kahit sinong impeachable na officer?...So that's the importance of our petition in the Supreme Court," Cayetano added. (I said earlier that they were 12 before, they are 13 now. So if six senators will be arrested, does this mean it will only take 12 votes to convict an impeachable officer? That's the importance of our petition in the Supreme Court.) Earlier, Gatchalian said the threshold for convicting Duterte in her impeachment trial remains at 16 votes. Meanwhile, the petitioners also said that the case is not about who controls the Senate. “Rather, it is about safeguarding the constitutional order from which all public authority derives and reaffirming to the Filipino people that no branch of government, however powerful or politically situated, is above the Constitution,” it said. “Thus, the Supreme Court cannot hearken to the dictates of judicial restraint and reasoned hesitance for the simple reason that it is called herein to exercise its mandate,” it added. —AOL/BM, GMA News