Philippine Senate reopens after impasse but standoff among senators remain

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An impasse in the Philippines between two factions of senators that shut the Senate for two consecutive days ended on Wednesday when one side gained a quorum and allowed the upper chamber to reopen.

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and 10 allied senators have failed to show up since Monday after two other senators allied with Cayetano were sidelined due to legal issues, leaving the 24-member chamber with just 22 active members.

Cayetano said he and his majority bloc of senators did not show up at the Senate partly as a “protest” and to prevent rival senators from wresting control of the upper chamber. The 11 senators who oppose Cayetano criticized the decision and called on him to resign.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appealed for the absent senators to immediately return to work, saying the Senate impasse would stymie legislation needed by the poverty-stricken country to overcome an energy emergency sparked by the war in the Middle East.

The deadlock ended when Sen. Francis Escudero, who was previously aligned with Cayetano, showed up in the Senate, providing a quorum which allowed a session to be held before Congress goes into a weekslong recess.

“The current impasse in the Senate is untenable and unacceptable,” Escudero said, adding that “political divisions” had “become too extreme” for the chamber to function.

In a post on Facebook, Cayetano said he remained the Senate president and added that he and his remaining allies in the chamber would not honor changes in committee leaderships his rival senators made on Wednesday.

The Marcos administration said in a statement that it recognizes Sen. Win Gatchalian, who was designated by acting Senate president by senators opposed to Cayetano. “What happened in the Senate...was based on the law and the rule of law,” it said.

Senators opposed to Cayetano said he was desperately backing two absent allies in the Senate — Ronald dela Rosa and Jinggoy Estrada — to maintain his slim majority control.

Dela Rosa, a former national police chief, is in hiding after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest as a co-conspirator of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing a trial at the court in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity. Both have denied authorizing extra-judicial killings.

Estrada was arrested by authorities at the Senate on Monday on corruption-related charges linked to a flood control project. He denies the charge and is in jail awaiting trial.

Cayetano is an ally of the former president, whose daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, has accused Marcos and his administration for the “kidnapping” of her father by the police and his handover to the global court.

Control of the Senate’s leadership is crucial because it’s scheduled to start the trial in July of Sara Duterte, who was impeached as vice president last month by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos.

The vice president, who has declared her intention to seek the presidency in 2028, was impeached over criminal charges that include unexplained wealth and publicly threatening to have the president assassinated, allegations that she denies but has refused to answer in detail.