Senator JV Ejercito expressed hope on Saturday that more colleagues would back Acting Senate President Win Gatchalian to resolve the leadership uncertainty in the upper chamber.
Ejercito stressed the importance of establishing a definitive majority to settle the dispute over the chamber’s leadership numbers.
“We are working on it para matapos na lang yung question na whether 12, whether 13,” Ejercito said in a radio interview. “Mas maganda kung makuha na natin yung number 13 sa mga susunod para nga mawala na yung question on the leadership.”
Securing a 13th vote is critical for Gatchalian’s bloc to cement their legitimacy within the 24-member Senate. The chamber experienced political turbulence following a protracted standoff that led Gatchalian and his allies to reorganize the leadership and unseat Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.
The deadlock broke when Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero attended the session, providing the 12th vote needed for a quorum to declare the seats vacant and appoint Gatchalian as acting head.
However, Cayetano has strongly maintained that the leadership reorganization violated both the 1987 Constitution and official Senate procedures.
Ejercito lamented how the political infighting has negatively impacted the upper chamber, asserting that personal and political loyalties should not compromise the legislative body.
“I’m not loyal to anybody. Ang loyalty ko nasa institution,” Ejercito affirmed. “Nalulungtok ako na bumagsak yung imahe ng Senado. The institution itself has been damaged.”
While no new political realignments have been declared, Ejercito called on members of the Cayetano-led faction to move past partisan differences for the stability of the chamber.
“Kaya nga… nag-appeal ako ngayon sa lahat, sa kanila,” Ejercito said. “Huwag na yung personal na relasyon. Huwag na yung ating political inclination. More on the Senate as an institution na lang tayo.”