A wave of criticism has emerged over another Senate shakeup on Wednesday, 3 June, after the minority bloc proceeded with a session using a 12-member quorum, resulting in a complete overhaul of the Senate leadership.

The Senate has been under immense tension since last month when a coup ousted Vicente "Tito" Sotto III as Senate President. This was followed by a chaotic sequence of events, including gunshots within the Senate premises and Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa’s subsequent evasion of authorities.

The battle over the quorum began on 26 May, when the minority bloc walked out of a plenary session. They were protesting a proposed amendment to the rules that would allow majority senators facing threats of arrest to still participate in sessions.

In retaliation, the majority bloc used the exact same quorum rules to skip two consecutive sessions from 1 to 2 June.

Following the arrest of Jinggoy Estrada on Monday and Bato Dela Rosa going into hiding due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), both political factions were left with exactly 11 active members each. However, on the third day of the majority’s boycott, Chiz Escudero broke ranks and switched blocs. This gave the minority a 12-member quorum, under the argument that there are currently only 22 active senators.

Holding the floor, the newly formed majority declared Alan Peter Cayetano’s seat as Senate President vacant. Win Gatchalian was designated as Senate President Pro Tempore and acting Senate chief. Committee assignments were also reshuffled, with Pia Cayetano stripped of her chairmanship of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which was then handed over to Erwin Tulfo.

The Avelino vs. Cuenco

The 1949 landmark case of Avelino vs. Cuenco, decided under the 1935 Constitution, was invoked to justify the 12-member quorum—a move that Cayetano strongly contested.

In that historical case, then-Senate President José Avelino faced an ouster move led by Mariano Jesús Cuenco. Avelino abruptly adjourned the session and walked out with his allied senators. This left only 12 senators in the chamber. Those who remained continued the session, arguing that they still constituted a quorum because one senator was in the United States and another was hospitalized, effectively lowering the number of legally capacitated members to 22. Avelino sought intervention from the Supreme Court, which ultimately recognized Cuenco’s leadership.

DAILY TRIBUNE's columnist and political analyst Atty. Edward Chico uploaded an explanatory video noting that while the Supreme Court initially abstained from intervening in the historic case, it eventually recognized that Cuenco would have won the vote anyway, holding a 12-to-10 majority even without a walkout.

"Now assuming for the sake of argument na itong Avelino vs. Cuenco ay hindi applicable sa ginawa ng Senado kanina, so puwede na ba si Cayetano na mag-barge in sa Senate, i-insist niya na siya ang Senate President? (Now assuming for the sake of argument that this Avelino vs. Cuenco case is not applicable to what the Senate did earlier, does that mean Cayetano can now barge into the Senate and insist that he is the Senate President?),” Chico asked.

"Unfortunately for him, meron po tayong tinatawag na presumption of regularity and sabi ng Supreme Court, that presumption of regularity also extends to the Senate. So dahil nag-session sila, nag-elect sila ng acting Senate President, ang presumption regular yan. And that presumption can only be overcome, kasi rebuttable naman yan, by filing a case in court. So yun lang, kinakilala natin (Unfortunately for him, we have what we call a presumption of regularity, and the Supreme Court says that this presumption of regularity also extends to the Senate. So, because they held a session and elected an acting Senate President, the presumption is that it is regular. And that presumption can only be overcome since it is rebuttable by filing a case in court. So that's it, we just have to recognize it),” he continued.  

Chico reiterated that if Cayetano wants to regain power, he must go through the proper legal channels via the high court.

"Kailangan gawin talaga ni Cayetano right now to file the necessary case in court sa SC para with finality malaman natin kung paano reresubahain ito. So again, walang magagawa talaga si Cayetano na outmaneuver siya talaga but he can actually still go to court (What Cayetano really needs to do right now is file the necessary case in court with the Supreme Court so we can know with finality how this will be resolved. So again, there is really nothing Cayetano can do since he was truly outmaneuvered, but he can actually still go to court).”