The Senate will continue implementing heightened security measures especially in preparation for the special session called for by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.

Acting Senate President and President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian announced this in light of the extreme security procedures being implemented in and out of the Upper Chamber’s premises.

Gatchalian said the ongoing security measures in the Senate is also part of the recommendation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), having received information of a possible armed threat against the institution.

“They recommended to us to continue the heightened security measures. I can’t go into the details but I was with Sen. Ping (Panfilo Lacson) and (former) Senate president (Vicente) Sotto. We met with Sotto because he is the chairman of the National Defense Committee,” Gatchalian said.

“So we met with the AFP and PNP to discuss this threat. Bottom line is they recommend for us to continue to be proactive and continue to implement the heightened security measures that are in place. We also asked for support in terms of intelligence information dahil they have the intelligence information network,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lacson rejected the objections and claims of an “undeclared martial law” by some minority senators to the security survey and inspection (SSI) of the Senate premises by the PNP and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), who are assisted by the AFP.

Lacson, a former PNP chief, emphasized that the inspection stemmed from intelligence reports indicating a security threat to the Senate, adding that no one was exempted, not even the offices of the majority bloc members.

“Martial law? All the offices of individual senators, even including that of Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, as well as those occupied by the secretariat and all other offices, were subjected to safety and security inspections to make sure that we and the Senate employees as well as the media people covering the Senate will be safe and secure from a repeat of the May 13 shooting incident and mayhem that transpired under the watch of disgraced ex-Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano,” he pointed out.

“Except for those of us who may be apprehensive that they may have kept or stored contraband items like firearms, explosives and drugs in their offices, those with clean consciences should all welcome instead of criticize the SSI,” he added.

Earlier, some minority senators objected to the inspection at the Senate, with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, in a Facebook livestream, questioned whether the Senate was under “martial law” because it was placed under “lockdown.”

Lacson further noted Sen. Robinhood Padilla’s post on Facebook that senators should remember that the Senate belongs to civilians, saying the institution should not be treated as a military camp, with “trolls” supporting their claim of the country now under an “undeclared” or “silent martial law.”

But Lacson assured that the majority bloc is already prepared for the possibility that the Cayetano-bloc will employ “dirty tricks” ahead of Wednesday’s special session.