The Senate is a ‘continuing body’

There has been so much hullaballoo and heated debates back and forth over what constitutes a Senate majority. Law experts, even self-proclaimed legal luminaries, revert to the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on Avelino vs. Cuenco (83 Phil. 17, March 4, 1949). It states that 12 could be considered the majority of 23 senators, therefore, a 12-senator quorum is valid.

Before the June 3 sine die adjournment of the first regular session of the 20th Congress, the 11-man minority bloc wrested the leadership from the majority bloc. Sen. Francis Escudero, who was also ousted earlier as Senate chief, left the majority bloc headed by Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano. 

Escudero’s attendance enabled the minority bloc to resume session and elect Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate president pro tempore. Since they still lacked the required 12 plus one senator to elect a new Senate president, Gatchalian assumed as “acting” Senate chief.

The previous 13 senators of the Cayetano bloc lost two votes from senators out of action for now. They are Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa – who has been dodging the Interpol warrant of arrest against him – and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, now detained for the plunder case filed against him by the ombudsman for his alleged kickbacks in the so-called flood control project scam.

But the Senate leadership battle rages on, given the very slim division between the comebacking majority bloc led by Gatchalian with 12 senators and the remaining 10 senators of the bloc led by Cayetano and erstwhile Senate president pro tempore Loren Legarda, who are still insisting on their stranglehold of the leadership of the Upper Chamber.

Cayetano and Legarda should know better as veteran lawmakers. Both have served several terms as senators interspersed with stints at the House of Representatives in Congresses past. So they ought to know in their hearts and minds that the Senate is a continuing body. 

No less than our country’s 1987 Constitution mandated the Philippine Senate as a continuing institution in terms of its membership and existence. But at the same time, it limits its status as a “continuing body” when conducting daily legislative business. 

Section 2, Article VI of the Constitution states the term of office of a senator is six years, with a limit of two consecutive terms. But half of the 24-man Senate is elected every three years. Precisely, the staggered elections ensure at least half of the Senate in existence, or 12 senators, remain in office to carry over its organic life. 

This provides for what is called as “institutional memory.” This purpose of this constitutional design is to also guarantee maintaining policy stability and for experienced lawmakers to guide neophyte senators or newcomers in the Upper Chamber.  

As specified by a separate provision of our Constitution, the practical application of the Senate as a “continuing body” is frequently debated when the Upper Chamber exercises special non-legislative powers such as functioning as an impeachment court. In such cases, the Senate’s distinct constitutional mandates can supersede the expiration of a regular legislative term, allowing the proceedings to continue as long as the constitutional duty requires. 

We have seen this in the first impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte filed in February 2025 during the 19th Congress. While waiting for the SC ruling on the petition that raised the one-year bar against impeachable officials in the case of VP Sara, the complaint reached the Senate of the 20th Congress as the new impeachment court.

Fast forward. The Senate as impeachment court will now have Senator Gatchalian as presiding officer when it convenes for the pre-trial of VP Sara supposedly scheduled this week. But Cayetano likewise claimed he is also the designated presiding officer of the impeachment court as the duly elected Senate president.

A lawyer by profession, Cayetano strongly believes he remains Senate chief. But why has he not elevated his case before the SC as the aggrieved party? Incidentally, the 15-man High Court dismissed a petition filed last June 5 by public school teacher Barry Aquino Tayam, who they declared lacked legal standing on the Senate leadership issue.

Tayam asked the High Court to intervene and affirm the 12 senators of the Gatchalian bloc constituted a valid quorum. In its quick ruling five days later, the SC found Tayam failed to show how he suffered – or was at imminent risk of suffering – any direct injury from the change in Senate leadership. Because his interest was considered a generalized grievance rather than a direct personal impact, the SC dismissed the case outright without ruling on the merits of the Senate’s quorum.   

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) already officially and formally acknowledged Gatchalian as “Senate president pro tempore” during his Independence Day speech last June 12 at Luneta. The President greeted him along with House Speaker Rep. Faustino “Bojie” Dy III, who also earlier declared official recognition of Gatchalian as the “acting” Senate president.

A day earlier, the President, the Speaker and senators led by Gatchalian took separate flights to Sarangani. The province was one of the hardest-hit in Mindanao by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake last June 8. Gatchalian was joined there by Senate majority leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri and Senators JV Ejercito and Erwin Tulfo when they bumped into Speaker Dy. 

“Mr. Speaker, my partner, I’m looking forward to working with you,” Gatchalian greeted the Isabela congressman.

At the evacuation center, Gatchalian recalled his working relations together with Dy during Congresses past. “Galing din ako sa House of Representatives for two terms. Matagal ko ng kaibigan ito (points to Dy). Since 2001, magkasama na kami ni Speaker Bojie Dy kaya excited ako makatrabaho sya,” he pointed out.

To which Speaker Dy replied to Gatchalian: “Magkita tayo sa SONA (State of the Nation Address).”

The next SONA of PBBM is on July 27 at the joint opening of the second regular session of Congress. That is, if PBBM decides not to call for a special session before that day when the Senate can convene as a continuing body.