Senator Alan Peter Cayetano no longer commands the Senate majority or its leadership following the emergence of a new 12-member bloc, national coalition Team Pilipinas said during the Saturday News Forum.

Convenor Dino De Leon argued that Cayetano's camp no longer has the numbers to claim majority control, saying the senator should be able to bring 13 members to the Senate plenary if he still holds the position.

“In any permutation or combination, you no longer have a majority bloc. Because if you really have a majority, you should be able to bring your 13 warm bodies to the plenary,” De Leon said.

“But the fact of the matter is, you can only bring 10 to the plenary,” he added.

De Leon explained that while electing a new Senate president requires 13 votes, removing one does not necessarily require the same number.

“It takes a simple act of a majority who has the quorum and can actually declare all seats vacant,” he said, insisting that Cayetano is no longer Senate president.

The lawyer challenged Cayetano to prove his claim to the leadership by presenting all 13 members of his alleged bloc during the next Senate session.

“I challenge you, in any session—even on Monday—bring 13 warm bodies of your supporters who are senators to the Senate floor, and then we will all shut up,” De Leon said.

“But if you only have 10, I don’t know where you get the audacity to say that you are still the Senate President when you only have 10 supporters,” he added in Filipino.

De Leon maintained that Cayetano's camp currently has only 10 members, compared with the 12-member bloc led by Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian.

He also suggested that Cayetano's support could shrink further.

“Maybe it could even go down to nine,” De Leon said.