Cayetano is new Senate leader as coup succeeds
After several reported plots for his ouster, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III was at last unseated on Monday by 13 of the chamber’s 24 senators and replaced by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
The coup against Sotto led by allies of the Duterte family unfolded as the House of Representatives was set to vote on the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The articles were due afterward for transmittal to the Senate (See related story on Page A6).
The surprise move happened shortly after the opening of Monday’s session, when Cayetano, the upper chamber’s minority leader, took the floor and informed his colleagues they had the numbers to change the Senate leadership.
Earlier that day, Sen. Robinhood Padilla denied that the minority bloc was planning a coup against Sotto.
‘Bato in the building’
“To say that we will change the Senate leadership to stop the impeachment court, that won’t happen. There is no such thing in the Constitution. That is just GOSSIP! The Senate majority is strong, isn’t it obvious?” Padilla said on social media.
He would later vote for Cayetano following Sotto’s ouster, which Cayetano would still not describe as a “coup.”
Addressing the chamber on Monday afternoon, Cayetano made a manifestation “that there are now at least 13 members of the Senate who wish to have a leadership change and that Sen. [Ronald] ‘Bato’ dela Rosa is in the building and will be here in a minute.”
The session was suspended immediately after Cayetano’s manifestation. When it resumed, Sen. Joel Villanueva—who later became acting majority leader—moved to declare all seats vacant, and the Senate approved the motion by a vote of 13-10, with Sen. JV Ejercito abstaining.
It was the sudden reappearance of Dela Rosa, after being absent in the Senate since November last year (See related story on this page), that would provide the crucial vote for Cayetano to secure a slim majority of 12 senators plus his own vote.
Sotto’s allies
What would emerge as the new majority bloc by the end of the day consisted of Senators Cayetano, his sister Pia, Jinggoy Estrada, Loren Legarda, siblings Camille and Mark Villar, and the Vice President’s allies Padilla, Villanueva, Bong Go, Francis Escudero, Imee Marcos, Rodante Marcoleta, and Dela Rosa.
Earlier that afternoon, Villanueva’s motion was quickly followed by Marcos’ motion nominating Cayetano as the new Senate leader.
Villanueva then moved to close the nomination, but Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan manifested “our serious reservations” on behalf of Sotto’s allies.
“We do not object because we do not have the numbers, but we would like to manifest our serious reservations, Mr. President, for the record,” Pangilinan said.
Sotto’s leading ally, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, then moved to nominate Sotto in a bid to restore the ousted leader to his old post.
This prompted the Senate to a vote, with Cayetano’s slim majority outnumbering the eight who sided with the ousted leader—Senators Lacson, Pangilinan, brothers Raffy and Erwin Tulfo, Lito Lapid, Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino and Sherwin Gatchalian.
Two other senators abstained—Ejercito again, this time joined by Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Precarious hold
Sotto’s hold on the Senate presidency had been seen as precarious since he was restored to that old post in September last year, following a coup against Escudero, the Senate leader at that time.
Unlike his secure place during the administration of then President Rodrigo Duterte—when Sotto occupied the Senate presidency for four years—he no longer seemed to count himself an ally of the Duterte family under the current administration of President Marcos.
Escudero was unseated on Sept. 8 last year when Zubiri moved to declare the Senate presidency vacant and nominated Sotto.
Legarda seconded Zubiri’s motion.
Sotto, the only nominee as Escudero’s replacement, had the support of 11 other senators besides Lacson, Zubiri and Legarda.
Term-sharing
No vote was conducted in the plenary. But a source had confirmed to the Inquirer that the others who supported Sotto were Ejercito, Gatchalian, Lapid, Hontiveros, Aquino, Pangilinan, Camille and Mark Villar, Erwin and Raffy Tulfo, and Pia Cayetano, sister of the current Senate president.
Those who stuck it out with Escudero were his fellow allies in the Duterte bloc—Marcoleta, Estrada, Go, Marcos, Padilla, Dela Rosa, Villanueva, and Alan Peter Cayetano.
Last February—only five months after returning to the Senate presidency—there was another reported attempt to oust Sotto, as he himself had claimed.
But this was finessed with discussions of a term-sharing agreement with Legarda, who would have been the country’s first woman Senate president if this had pushed through.
‘Right leadership’
Despite his uncertain fate in the Senate presidency, Sotto had been perceived as being impervious to his own position. He said he had “heard” about another plot against him, but “I leave everything to God’s plan. I trust His heart.”
“As always, I serve at the pleasure of my peers. I uphold and follow the Constitution,” Sotto also said.
Gatchalian said Sotto had been “showing the right leadership here especially in times like these.”
In his manifestation before unseating Sotto, Cayetano said: “May I kindly inform and apologize to the Senate president that, for security reasons, I could not go up to you earlier to ask you and tell you this and have to inform you this way, but I give you all my respect and ask for an orderly transition in accordance with our rule, Mr. President.” —WITH REPORTS FROM TINA G. SANTOS AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
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