“What happened is a strong argument against a parliamentary form of government where patronage politics plays a major—if not the only—role in selecting our country’s top leader.

Senators yesterday set the Upper Chamber in course to battle on what they think would be possible moves by Congress to install Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (gma), recently in the headlines for her “power grab” in Congress by ousting Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in questionable manner, as the country’s first woman prime minister.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, describing the GMA “power grab” as “awkward, ugly, low and disgraceful,” confirmed the Senate—”as a whole”—will defend and assert its role in revising or amending the 1987 Constitution which on Monday was thrown off-track by the raucous attempt to dislodge Alvarez from his seat by the GMA group just as President Duterte was to deliver his third State of the Nation Address.

“They (Arroyo’s allies) must think twice,” Lacson said.

Senators Grace Poe and Antonio Trillanes also warned that Arroyo’s rise as House Speaker could lead to her ascension to prime minister as the Lower House was in the middle of preparations for charter change under Alvarez who worked to rev up President Duterte’s push for federal shift.

Poe blasted Arroyo’s “trademark power grabbing,” citing her nine-year term as the country’s top leader was marked with allegations of widespread corruption.

Estrada’s extraconstitutional ouster in 2001, claiming the presidency from the popularly-elected leader following what is now branded as Edsa 2, an uprising fueled by several officials from Estrada’s own Cabinet, civil society groups, the military and the police.

But Poe’s main beef against Arroyo was the former President’s alleged cheating of her father, the late popular actor Fernando Poe, Jr., who accused Arroyo of fraudulently obtaining an advantage of more than a million votes in their faceoff for the presidency in 2004.

“Not to overstep the process of the House but when this is what our people are seeing, there will be confusion. And (it showed) power grabbing was prevalent under her administration,” Poe said.

Arroyo was jailed for plunder by her successor, former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.

Trillanes, a former Navy captain who launched two failed coup attempts against Arroyo during her presidency, echoed the same sentiments.

Lacson said the members of the Senate have agreed to “close ranks” if Congress, under Arroyo, will sideline earlier agreements between both chambers to work hand-in-hand in introducing changes in the Charter.

“If GMA’s ascension to the speakership is a prelude to her becoming a prime minister, they better think twice! Because the Senate—both the majority and minority—has agreed to close ranks to defend the Constitution in amending and revising the same,” Lacson said.

“That, I can say with certainty and conviction,” Lacson added.

Lacson also blasted the manner by which Alvarez’s ouster was carried out which happened just as the President was to deliver his SoNA and was supposed to sign the new law for Bangsamoro peace in the middle of his speech.

“Regardless of whether it was GMA or somebody else replacing the ousted Speaker, what happened is a strong argument against a parliamentary form of government where patronage politics plays a major—if not the only role—in selecting our country’s top leader,” Lacson said.

Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros also weighed in on the issue, saying: “They (Congressmen) chose to disrespect their own President and attended to their own ambitions in full view of the nation. For almost an hour, it seemed nobody was in control.”

“This is the true state of the nation. It is petty infighting, backstabbing and brinkmanship. All done at the people’s expense,” she added.

With Congress’ session suspended following the non-passage of the Organic Law on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or OLBARMM, Arroyo first tried to grab the Lower House’s top leadership from Alvarez through a vote.

Arroyo and her group did it sans the microphone (which was turned off pending the official restart of the official proceedings) and the Congress mace, which symbolizes the chamber’s authority. Without the mace in its stand, all discussions and actions in the plenary are unofficial and invalid.

Following her “ascendancy” to the speakership, Arroyo tried to join the President’s party at the Presidential Lounge in preparation for the march towards the Plenary Hall where President Duterte was to deliver his speech.

The Chief Executive, however, rebuffed her and told his audience that he wanted Alvarez beside him as Speaker when he delivered his SoNA. This was confirmed by Senate President Tito Sotto, who along with Alvarez, was with the Mr. Duterte at the Presidential Lounge of the Batasan.

Without the OLBARMM to sign and having heard of the ruckus engineered by the new coalition of GMA, several PDP stalwarts and members, remnants of the Liberal Party and several other anti-Duterte groups and Alvarez’s critics, Sotto said President Duterte seriously contemplated walking out of his own SoNA.

“He (the President) did not like what was happening,” Sotto said. “He almost walked out.”

Another Daily Tribune source attested to this and even quoted the President as saying: “If you won’t maintain status quo, then I’m walking out.”

“If GMA’s ascension to the speakership is a prelude to her becoming a prime minister, they better think twice! Because the Senate, both the majority and minority, has agreed to close ranks to defend the Constitution in amending and revising the same.

That statement signaled the pullout of the Honor Guards.

“I want Bebot (Alvarez) by my side,” the source quoted Mr. Duterte as saying further. The President addressed Alvarez as the Speaker at the start of his speech.

Arroyo’s group gave way to the President but it used the end of the SoNa to push the House leadership change.

House sources claim the mace the group used to project the legitimacy of their action is the old one. The mace being used for Congress’ official functions is under House safekeeping as is the usual practice.

Arroyo’s group held a caucus yesterday with the same old mace on the stand.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito drew comparisons with the recent leadership change in the Senate with that of GMA’s claim of the House leadership.

“They were in contrast,” Ejercito, son of former President Estrada who is now Manila mayor, said. Former Senate President Koko Pimentel showed how it is to act like a statesman by putting personal and political interests aside.

Arroyo, however, vowed to carry out the President’s legislative agenda, allaying fears she would use her position to strengthen her political base.

“I am extremely honored to have been supported by my colleagues in the House of Representatives to be their new Speaker,” Arroyo said. “I will endeavor to carry out the legislative agenda of President Duterte in the Lower House.”

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, meanwhile, said it is pleased with the peaceful and orderly outcome of the President’s SoNA, citing a successful implementation of its security plan.

“We are pleased with the outcome of our preparations for the SoNA. It turned out to be peaceful and orderly,” AFP spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo said late Monday.

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