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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider New Senate leadership mulls special session to solve delays in AFP generals' confirmation hearing, approval of pending bills

New Senate leadership mulls special session to solve delays in AFP generals' confirmation hearing, approval of pending bills

Published Jun 4, 2026 03:34 pm

At A Glance

  • The new Senate leadership is considering calling for a special session in order to approve all pending legislative measures and solve the plight of a number of Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) generals and foreign service officers, whose confirmation before the Commission on Appointments (CA) were stalled due to the impasse in the Upper Chamber's leadership.

The new Senate leadership is considering calling for a special session in order to approve all pending legislative measures and solve the plight of a number of Armed Forces of the Philippine (AFP) generals and foreign service officers, whose confirmation before the Commission on Appointments (CA) were stalled due to the impasse in the Upper Chamber’s leadership. 

“That is one of the things we are discussing right now,” Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian told members of the Senate media in a press briefing on Thursday, June 4.

“One of our concerns is the five generals who were supposed to be promoted but whose nominations were not confirmed (by the CA) and if they passed their birth date, they are no longer qualified for promotion. 

“So it would be unfair to our generals who served our country. So it is one of our biggest concerns that we need to resolve.  Because for the three days we were not able to hold sessions, they were not confirmed. So personally, those are one of the things that I want to be addressed,” he said.

At this point, Gatchalian said the new majority bloc is looking at the pending bills that need to be attended to and the list of persons up for CA confirmation.

“So that if there would be a special session, everything will flow smoothly and continuously,” he said. 

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson also confirmed this plan saying there are actually 29 Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) generals, as well as 86 foreign service officers, whose confirmations were stalled due to the leadership gridlock in the Upper Chamber.

Lacson, in an interview late Wednesday, said that aside from a special session, the new leadership is exploring various measures, including asking Malacanang for an ad interim appointment for the affected officers. 

“Naaawa kami una sa nakabinbin na confirmation na AFP officers. Kawawa sila kasi ang kanilang nomination was made when Congress was in session. Kanina lang kami nag adjourn sine die (We sympathize with the stalled confirmation of the AFP officers whose nominations were made when Congress was still in session; we just adjourned sine die this afternoon),” Lacson said.

"Alang-alang sa magigiting nating opisyal, hihiling kami sa pangulo kung pwedeng tumawag ng special session para ma-convene ang CA (For our fine officers, we will ask the President for a special session to convene the CA so their plight will be addressed)," he added.

“Dala namin ito, sa tamang tiyempo ang kanilang pag nominate pero dahil nagkagulo sa Senado hindi ma-convene ang CA (This is our obligation because their nominations were made on time but the CA could not convene because of the Senate leadership issue),” he also noted.

Related Tags

Senate leadership change CA Commission on Appointments (CA) Sherwin Gatchalian Ping Lacson
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