Senate leaders on Tuesday moved to ensure full attendance in the June 17 special session called by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., with Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian urging colleagues to treat the one-day convening as a critical opportunity to finalize priority measures and pending Commission on Appointments (CA) matters.
Gatchalian said senators from both the majority and minority blocs should attend the session, which is expected to tackle long-delayed legislation and the confirmation of five military generals.
“For me, it is important that we approve all of these bills and not waste this special session because this is our opportunity to finish everything that has been pending, which is why it’s important for our senators to attend,” he said in a chance interview.
He warned that delays in confirming military officials could affect their ability to fully perform their duties.
Gatchalian also said he had coordinated with House leadership, noting that Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III had assured the attendance of House members in the CA.
The special session will open at 9 a.m., suspend at 11 a.m. for the CA meeting, resume in the afternoon, and adjourn between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.
The push for attendance came amid a separate petition filed before the Supreme Court by Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and allied senators seeking to invalidate the June 3 Senate session that installed Gatchalian as acting Senate president.
In a petition for certiorari and prohibition, the Cayetano bloc argued that the session lacked the constitutional quorum, saying only 12 senators were present when leadership changes and committee reorganizations were made.
“Truth is truth is truth. Numbers change. The Constitution does not,” Cayetano said in a social media post, framing the issue as a constitutional dispute rather than a leadership contest.
The petitioners cited Article VI, Section 16 of the Constitution, which requires a majority of each House to constitute a quorum, arguing that at least 13 senators were needed for valid proceedings in the 24-member chamber.
They asked the Supreme Court to nullify all actions arising from the June 3 session, including leadership changes, committee reshuffles, and amendments to impeachment trial rules, and sought a status quo ante order to halt implementation of the disputed decisions.
Separately, Sen. Erwin Tulfo warned against what he described as unauthorized gatherings being presented as Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, saying such meetings have no official standing.
Tulfo said any legitimate Senate committee hearing must be properly supported by secretariat staff, stenographers, and official documentation systems to be considered part of the record.
“Hindi naman po official na Blue Ribbon Committee po iyon. Iyon po ay pulong-pulong lang yata iyon,” he said in a radio interview.
He added that the Senate leadership is studying possible legal and internal actions, including potential ethics complaints against those who may misrepresent such gatherings as official proceedings. (with reports from PNA)
Photo courtesy of PH Senate
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