Rama, Cebu Duterte allies brand Senate shakeup ‘illegal, immoral’
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former Cebu City Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama and local allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday challenged the legitimacy of the recent Senate leadership coup, forging ahead with their protests despite a fresh legal opinion from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) validating the takeover.
Leaders of the pro-Duterte Hakbang Maisug-Cebu made their stand during a gathering at Plaza Independencia, maintaining that the senators who met in Manila lacked the numbers to legally conduct business.
READ: Sen. Win Gatchalian elected Senate president pro tempore
The demonstration signaled grassroots resistance against Wednesday’s swift reorganization in the capital, which saw 12 lawmakers declare a quorum, vacate top posts, and install Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore.
Rama and his allies insisted the chamber fell short of the constitutionally mandated 13-member majority, warning that the shakeup had plunged the country into a dangerous constitutional crisis.
However, that position directly contradicts the legal consensus from the IBP. Hours earlier, the country’s mandatory bar association invoked the landmark 1949 Avelino vs. Cuenco Supreme Court ruling, declaring the June 3 session lawful and valid by arguing that the quorum requirement should only be based on the number of senators the chamber can realistically compel to attend.
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‘Simple arithmetic’
Rama, who serves as the Vice President for the Visayas of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), said he could no longer stay silent while the Constitution was being “twisted.”
“It just came to my mind that I cannot just keep talking about what happened in the Senate when it is wrong. It is simply wrong,” Rama said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
The former mayor warned that the maneuver set a damaging precedent for future generations, accusing the new Senate majority of inventing legal loopholes to suit their political narratives.
“It is highly reprehensible that they create their own interpretations and narratives to the extent that they change the majority requirement from 13 to 12. That cannot be allowed,” Rama said. “Simple arithmetic. What is a quorum? Even a mahjong game has no quorum if there are not four players.”
Rama argued that the Senate’s 24-member composition is absolute, meaning 13 members are strictly required to conduct business.
He stressed that absent or detained lawmakers must still be factored into the total count.
READ: Lawmaker to Alan Peter Cayetano: ‘You are a disgrace to the Senate’
Cebuano backlash brews
Jun Abines, spokesperson for Hakbang Maisug-Cebu, warned that political tensions could boil over if the impasse in Manila is not resolved cleanly.
“We want to show here in Cebu that we are not simply ignoring what is happening,” Abines said, claiming that “80 to 90 percent” of Cebuanos feel alienated and angered by the capital’s political maneuvering.
Abines added that the Plaza Independencia rally was “just the beginning,” hinting that Cebuano loyalists are prepared to take their protests straight to Manila if the situation escalates.
For now, the Cebu camp maintains that they only recognize Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as the legitimate Senate President.
“As long as there are no 13 votes, the person recognized by Filipinos and by those who understand the law is Alan Peter Cayetano,” Abines said.
READ: IBP agrees June 3 Senate quorum ‘lawful’ and ‘valid’
What the IBP said
The local protest highlights a deep-seated legal divide over how a Senate quorum is calculated.
In its Thursday brief, the IBP explained that under the Avelino precedent, a quorum is determined by the number of senators the chamber can “realistically compel to attend.”
Because Senator Jinggoy Estrada remains detained and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is currently outside the Senate’s physical reach, the IBP argued the active roster effectively dropped from 24 to 22.
Consequently, the 12 senators present constituted a legal majority, giving their actions a “presumption of regularity.”
The crisis began Wednesday when Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero joined 11 minority lawmakers to declare the session open, unseat the leadership, and elect Gatchalian.
The new bloc also named Senator Miguel Zubiri as Majority Leader and reshuffled powerful committee chairmanships.
Cayetano, however, has fiercely dug in. Denouncing the transition as an “illegal coup,” he continues to claim the Senate presidency, leaving the upper chamber gridlocked in a high-stakes standoff with no immediate end in sight.
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