Marcos recognizes Win as Senate leader in Freedom Day speech
Malacañang already made it clear in earlier statements, but now the affirmation came from the President himself.
In his Independence Day speech on Friday, President Marcos recognized Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian as the new leader of the chamber.
The President opened his remarks by greeting “Senate President Pro Tem Sherwin Gatchalian’’ along with Speaker Faustino Dy and other lawmakers, Cabinet members, and other ranking officials present at the Quirino Grandstand program.
Marcos and Gatchalian were also seen shaking hands during the earlier flag-raising ceremony at Rizal Park.
For the past few weeks, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro had repeatedly said that the executive department was recognizing Gatchalian and the “new majority” that emerged during the chamber’s plenary session on June 3, where he was also designated as acting Senate president.
Cayetano hasn’t yielded
This was despite the insistence of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano that he remained the Senate president, with his own faction questioning the legitimacy of the June 3 session and the ensuing committee reorganization that the Gatchalian bloc approved.
Among the positions declared vacant during the June 3 session was that of the Senate president. Installing a new Senate president requires the vote of at least 13 senators, as required by the Constitution.
When she last spoke on the matter at a Palace press briefing on Thursday, Castro allayed concerns that a constitutional crisis remained a possibility.
“In the eyes of Malacañang, in the eyes of the executive, we have nothing that can be called a constitutional crisis,” she said. “It is clear that the leadership we support and recognize is the leadership of Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.”
