It's imperative for the Senate to resolve its leadership squabble before the start of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial--and the chamber has the opportunity to do this in the special session on June 17.

House lead prosecutor Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro said on Monday, June 15 that unresolved issues on the matter could give rise to another constitutional challenge, especially since its the Senate's constitutional duty to hold the high-stakes trial.

Disputing the Senate presidency are Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian and erstwhile Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.

“Sana ma-address ngayon para wala nang apprehension ng House about another possible constitutional issue to be raised in the Supreme Court (Hopefully it would now be addressed so that the House won't have any apprehension about another possible constitutional issue to be raised in the SC),” Luistro said in a press conference right before Malacañang announced the special session.

The crux of the dispute is Cayetano's assertion that the pro-Gatchalian bloc didn't have enough warm bodies in plenary session last June 3 to stage a coup d'etat. The pro-Gatchalian senators adjourned sessions sine die along with the House of Representatives that day.

Under the impeachment process, it is the role of the House to submit the articles of impeachment to the Senate and convict the respondent, who in this case is Duterte.

Luistro says the House of Representatives continues to recognize the authority of acting Gatchalian, who has been presiding over matters related to the impeachment court.

“For the record, the House of Representatives already recognized the leadership of acting SP Win Gatchalian,” she said.

“As a matter of fact, we articulated already that we will be appealing before the impeachment court initiated by acting SP Win Gatchalian, who nowadays is the one signing the notices in his capacity as presiding officer,” she noted.

On Wednesday, June 17, the House and Senate will convene separately to further advance key pieces of legislation, as sought by the Palace. However, all eyes will be on the 24 senators' attendance that day, and whether or not there would be enough to decide beyond any doubt the chamber’s leader.

Luistro said the House would respect whatever decision the senators would end up making regarding their leadership.

“If it is acting SP Win Gatchalian, well, we will welcome that. If it will be someone else, we will welcome that because that is the judgment and prerogative of the members of the Senate,” she said.

She say her concern is that questions surrounding Senate leadership could later be raised before the SC and potentially complicate the impeachment proceedings.

“We are apprehensive that we might encounter another constitutional issue because we will be starting the trial and there is no duly elected Senate President,” Luistro noted.

The Senate impeachment court is scheduled to hold its pre-trial conference on June 18, with the impeachment trial of Duterte set to formally begin on July 6.