'Remember what we were taught': Former classmates, peers call out Cayetano
MANILA, Philippines — Former classmates and students from Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano's own schools have publicly rebuked him after last week's ouster that handed him the power to shield Sen. Bato Dela Rosa and control Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial.
The latest came Sunday from Cayetano's own batchmates at the Ateneo Law Class of 1997.
In a statement signed in their individual capacities, the lawyers pressed their former classmate to "study carefully" the Supreme Court case he himself was a respondent in, which affirmed the Philippines must still cooperate with the International Criminal Court on crimes committed during its membership.
"Regrettably, at the helm of this crisis is a member of the Ateneo Law Class of 1997. We, therefore, appeal to our batchmate, Senate President Alan P. Cayetano, to remember what we were taught in the Ateneo and to adhere to our oath as lawyers and officers of the court," the statement read.
"We urge the Senate President to study carefully his own case of Pangilinan vs Cayetano (G.R. No. 238875) as the pronouncements therein belie the credibility of his dispositions and decisions as Senate President on the ICC controversy," it added.
Cayetano's own party at UP
Cayetano has faced a similar kind of pressure from his own student-leader past.
Over the weekend, 152 alumni of two University of the Philippines Diliman student political parties — Sandigan ng Mag-aaral para sa Sambayanan, known as SAMASA, and Nagkakaisang Tugon — issued a joint statement demanding his resignation. Cayetano served as a university student councilor under Tugon.
The two groups have been seen as ideological rivals for decades. They wrote that the present crisis pushed them to set aside that history "in defense of democratic institutions and accountability."
"When even one's own political roots and former allies publicly repudiate one's leadership, it reflects a profound belief that institutional and democratic boundaries have been dangerously crossed," they said.
The signatories include former Ifugao representative Teddy Baguilat Jr. and former Finance undersecretary Cielo Magno.
'A criminal offence of harbouring a fugitive'
The statement by Cayetano's batchmates at Ateneo Law accused the Senate of overreach.
"In our current situation, the Senate has clearly gone beyond its powers, abrogated powers reserved for the two other departments and, by doing so, disturbed the balance of these three co-equal branches of government," the lawyers wrote.
They described the Senate's shelter of dela Rosa as "a criminal offence of harbouring a fugitive from justice dressed up with convoluted legal jargon to make it appear like the supposed tradition of 'protective custody."
They urged Cayetano to turn over all CCTV recordings of the May 13 shooting incident at the Senate to the Ombudsman.
Callouts vs Legarda
The Ateneo lawyers' statement — which they titled a "call for integrity and the observance of the rule of law" — comes after other school communities called out the two senators in a week.
Legarda — who flipped from the Sotto majority to support Cayetano, and was subsequently installed as Senate President Pro Tempore — has also been similarly asked to rethink her decisions by students from her two former schools.
Last week, the student council of Assumption College San Lorenzo, where she finished elementary and high school, backed calls to take down her portrait from the school's Wall of Empowered Women, saying her actions "no longer reflect the values that Assumption upholds." The portrait was removed hours later.
Earlier in the week, the UP Broadcasting Association — which Legarda once led as president while studying broadcast communication at UP Diliman — said her vote to install Cayetano "stands in contradiction with the principles of accountability, public service, and democratic responsibility that UP students are taught to uphold."
The Assumption Alumnae Association also issued a separate statement on Friday, addressed to all its members in public office. Without naming Legarda, the alumnae called on graduates to "return to the women they were formed to be" and to let conscience guide them "more than convenience or political safety."
Protecting Bato
By Dela Rosa's own admission, Cayetano was the reason he came out of hiding and reappeared last week at the Senate. On May 11, the same day he was installed as Senate president, Cayetano personally assisted Dela Rosa back into the chamber after six months in hiding.
Dela Rosa's return gave the new majority the 13th vote it needed to oust Sotto.
The Senate is scheduled to convene as an impeachment court Monday afternoon.
Duterte, who faces charges of grave misuse of public funds and betrayal of public trust, is the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice.
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