Instability in the Senate leadership

The persistent rumor that the position of Senate president (SP) is going to be declared vacant anytime in the next few days indicates the leadership instability of the Upper Chamber. And this is nothing new or unprecedented.

The sixth SP, Camilo Osias, who was elected as such after the tenures of Manuel Quezon, Manuel Roxas, Jose Avelino, and Cebu's Mariano Jesus Cuenco, respectively, stayed only in that position only from April 17, 1952 to April 30, 1952. A member of the Nacionalista Party, his position was declared vacant and he was replaced by his NP partymate, Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez, who became the seventh SP. Osias made a comeback on April 17, 1953 and was elected eighth SP.

But Osias only stayed in that post for 23 days. He was ousted again by the Liberal Party who elected Jose Zulueta from Iloilo, as ninth SP on May 20, 1953. Zulueta occupied the position for only 190 days when he was replaced by Amang Rodriguez on November 30, 1953. But Zulueta's tenure was much longer than that of the fifth SP, Quintin Paredes, who occupied that post for only 42 days, from March 5, 1952 up to April 17, 1952. He was replaced by Osias.

After the EDSA Revolution, the nineteenth SP was Neptali Gonzales of LDP, who earlier replaced Ernesto Maceda. He was also ousted on June 30, 1953 and was replaced by his fellow LDP partymate, Marcelo B. Fernan of Cebu. Gonzales stayed as SP for only 154 days. Gonzales was earlier elected as the fifteenth SP replacing his former law firm senior partner, Jovito Salonga. He was replaced by Edgardo Angara, the sixteenth SP. Gonzales was also elected as the seventeenth SP and was replaced later by Ernesto Maceda.

SP Frank Drilon of the Liberal Party, the twenty-second president of that chamber, stayed as such only for 201 days from April 13, 2000 to November 23, 2000. He was replaced by PDP-Laban's Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who stayed in that position for only seven months. Then Drilon recaptured the SP from Pimentel in 2001 and stayed there as the twenty-fourth SP for a long tenure until 2006. He was replaced by Manny Villar. Drilon became the twenty-seventh SP for the third time from 2013 to 2016. The only other SP elected three times was Neptali Gonzales.

In contrast, the longest sitting SP was Manuel L. Quezon who occupied that office from October 16, 1916 up to November 15, 1935 when he was elected the first president of the country under the regime of U.S. Commonwealth. Quezon was the first SP and the one who stayed there the longest, for 29 years. Next was Amang Rodriguez who was the SP from November 30, 1953 to August 5, 1963 or for almost 10 years. Jovito Salonga headed the Senate as the fourteenth SP for five years from 1987 to 1992.

The twenty-fourth SP, Drilon stayed as such from 2001 to 2006 or for five years. Tito Sotto, as the twenty-ninth SP, headed the Upper Chamber from 2018 to 2022. Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was the eleventh SP from 1963 to 1965. Manuel Roxas only stayed as the second SP from 1945 to 1946. Arturo Tolentino, the twelfth SP stayed as such only from 1966 to 1967. Blas Ople was the twenty-first SP and was there from July 1999 to April 2000. Francis Escudero was the thirty-first SP and occupied that post from May 20, 2024 to September 8, 2025.

Will Tito Sen, who was elected as the thirty-second SP only last September 8, 2025, be able to survive? Well, the moment the Villar siblings and the Tulfo brothers, plus Pia Cayetano decide to join Alan Peter, then we shall have a thirty-third SP anytime these days. Like Chiz, Alan is a lawyer, albeit Escudero is from UP and Cayetano is from Ateneo. One of the best SP was a non-lawyer, Amang Rodriguez. They should never make SP out of rabid partisans like Bong Go or Bato dela Rosa, or such men as Lito Lapid and Robinhood Padilla.

There has never been a female SP in Philippine history. Miriam Defensor Santiago would have been the best or Leticia Ramos Shahani, or Maria Kalaw Katigbak, Eva Estrada Kalaw, or Tecla San Andres Ziga. In contemporary politics, I would love to see Loren Legarda or Risa Hontiveros taking the helm of the Senate. But never Imee Marcos or Camille Villar.