Senator Erwin Tulfo bared on Thursday that senior members of the Win Gatchalian-led faction are actively courting colleagues from the camp of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano in a bid to end the persistent leadership dispute in the Senate.

Tulfo stopped short of naming the recruiters but hinted that they are “senior members of the majority.”

“Like Senator Chiz (Escudero), his friends in the majority convinced him. That’s why he switched [allegiance],” Tulfo said in Filipino during a radio interview.

“That’s normal. Now, I heard they’re convincing one or two more [senators] in the minority to cross over,” he added.

Several senators in the Gatchalian-led bloc have made similar claims but have not disclosed the identities of the potential defectors.

Recent reports indicate that Senator Joel Villanueva could break the impasse by shifting from Cayetano’s faction to the 12-member majority bloc led by Acting Senate President Win Gatchalian.

Although unconfirmed, Villanueva’s possible transfer could strengthen Gatchalian’s claim that his group is the legitimate majority bloc that retains control of the Senate despite opposition from Cayetano’s camp.

Daily Tribune reached out to Villanueva regarding the report, but he had yet to respond as of press time.

The two rival camps remain locked in a power struggle, with Cayetano’s faction refusing to recognize the June 3 leadership change that installed Gatchalian as Senate president after Cayetano and his allies boycotted Senate sessions for three consecutive days.

Cayetano’s bloc has challenged the move as unconstitutional, arguing that it lacked the required 13-member majority needed to establish a quorum, conduct business, and elect new officers.

Legal expert Domingo Cayosa, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), said a single senator breaking away from Cayetano’s camp could resolve the impasse without the need for Supreme Court intervention.

Without such a shift, however, the standoff is likely to persist, as the high court is generally reluctant to interfere in the affairs of a coequal branch of government.

“The Supreme Court does not interfere with political questions or internal rules, matters of other branches of government, such as the executive or legislative branch, because of the separation of powers doctrine,” Cayosa said partly in Filipino, adding that senators themselves can resolve the dispute.

A high school teacher, Barry Tayam, recently sought the Supreme Court’s intervention by asking it to declare the 12-member quorum valid in favor of the Gatchalian-led bloc.

The petition, however, was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday for lack of legal standing, ruling that Tayam failed to show any direct injury arising from the respondents’ actions.

Cayosa said the dismissal illustrated the high court’s reluctance to intervene in a highly political issue, noting that the ruling was not a judgment on the merits of the case.

Former Senate President Tito Sotto agreed, saying some “wishful thinkers” had mistaken the court’s action for a substantive ruling.

“The petition is not justiciable; therefore, no need for the SC to take it up,” Sotto told reporters.

Gatchalian and his allies have maintained that the leadership change was lawful and consistent with Senate precedents, particularly the landmark 1949 Supreme Court case Avelino v. Cuenco.

The ruling allowed adjustments to the base number of senators when certain members are legally beyond the Senate’s coercive reach.

As a result, the Gatchalian-led faction argues that a simple majority now stands at 12 because the effective Senate membership has been reduced from 24 to 22 following the arrest of Senator Jinggoy Estrada and the continued absence of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, both of whom are aligned with Cayetano’s camp.

The bloc also points to support from Malacañang, the House of Representatives, and several legal scholars and law deans who have recognized Gatchalian as the legitimate Senate leader.