Gatchalian assures Senate is now back on track
At A Glance
- Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said he plans to reach out to all senators, particularly to members of the Senate minority bloc now led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
- The new Senate chief also said it is now up to the Supreme Court to rule on the petition filed by the group of Alan Cayetano and the members of the minority bloc.
The Senateflix is over, hopefully.
Newly-installed Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian made this assurance on Thursday, June 18 as he welcomed the move of some members of the minority to reach out to the majority bloc during the Special Session on Wednesday.
Gatchalian, in a press briefing at the Senate, said he plans to reach out to all the senators in the next few days so that the Upper Chamber’s legislative work will proceed more smoothly.
The new Senate chief particularly expressed his gratitude to Sen. Joel Villanueva who finally completed the 13 votes needed for the election of the new Senate president.
Villanueva, he noted, had been so eager to return to work and was in fact, the most productive senator during the special session.
“In fact, he was the most productive yesterday. That’s our job really. We have to go back to our normal programming,” Gatchalian noted.
“I plan to reach out to all. I also talked to Sen. Camille Villar. That’s why she was also apponted as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Corporations which is a very important committee,” he further said.
Asked if he knew of other minority senators who will join the new majority bloc, Gatchalian said he cannot preempt his colleagues’ decisions.
“But one thing is for sure: those whom I talked to, even in the minority, they want to go back to work. And Sen. Camille Villar is one of the senators who wants to buckle down to work,” he pointed out.
Gatchalian said he was also grateful to be able to talk to Senators Loren Legarda, Imee Marcos, Rodante Marcoleta, Christopher “Bong” Go and Pia Cayetano, who all arrived during the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing.
The bloc led by former Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano were not present during the opening of the Special Session at 9 .m. but later on, the four senators joined other lawmakers during the CA plenary session that paved the way for the confirmation of the ad interim appointments of five Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) generals and flag officers and the ad interim appointments of 85 foreign service officials (FSO) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
It was Gatchalian who led the CA plenary session also held on Wednesday, June 17,
Marcos, Marcoleta, Go, Legarda and Pia Cayetano eventually participated in the afternoon of the Senate’s plenary session. Senators Alan Cayetano and Robinhood Padilla, however, were absent during the Special Session.
The Senate leader said he does not want to put any meaning to Cayetano and Padilla’s absence since he has already called on all his colleagues to attend the special session. Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, who has a pending arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), is still missing, while Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is detained over graft and plunder charges.
Up to Supreme Court to rule on Cayetano’s petition
Moreover, Gatchalian said he believes it is now up to the Supreme Court to rule on the petition filed by the group of Alan Cayetano and the members of the minority bloc.
The erstwhile Senate leader, together with his allies in the Senate, had asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday, to nullify the Senate’s June 3 reorganization.
“It’s already in the hands of the SC, so it's up to the SC on how to deal with it. So we’ll leave it with them," the senator said.
Senate chief until 2028?
Asked if he is prepared to step down should there be another leadership crisis in the Senate, Gatchalian said he is ready to return to being an ordinary member should any of his colleagues no longer wish him to be the Senate leader.
“On my part, honestly, I serve at the pleasure of my colleagues. It’s up to them, to our colleagues. You know me, whether Senate president or not, I will work for the Filipino people,” he said.
“The sentiment I am just getting from my colleagues right now is that they just want to return to work. What earlier happened (in the Senate) was stressful for everyone. It wasn’t just me, or just a few of the senators who were stressed,” he pointed out.
“So we want to go back to the regular programming which is legislation, debates, resolutions. Even if we don’t agree on many things, we don’t have the same position on many things. But our position is certain: all of us want to just return to work,” Gatchalian reiterated.