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In the absence of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and other majority bloc senators, the remaining 12 senators elected Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and acting Senate President. Gatchalian cited a 1949 Supreme Court case, Avelino vs. Cuenco, to argue that 12 out of 23 members can constitute a quorum. The case involved a dispute over Senate leadership and established that the Senate can function with a majority of present members.
Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. Amid the continued absence of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and other majority bloc senators, the remaining 12 senators on Wednesday elected Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and acting Senate President.
, Gatchalian said the Supreme Court found that an absolute majority of 12 out of 23 members could constitute a constitutional majority for quorum purposes.
“Labing-dalawa kami, 10 sila. Ano ‘yung majority? This is not without legal basis at saka precedent, ano? Dahil ‘yung Avelino vs. Cuenco ay maliwanag,” he said in an interview on 24 Oras.
“Dalawampu’t-dalawa kami ngayon dahil nga ‘yung dalawa indisposed at sinasabi doon outside the power of the Senate at hindi maco-compel ‘yung kanilang attendance,” he added. The 1949 Avelino case stemmed from then Senate President Jose Avelino’s petition asking the Supreme Court to declare him as the rightful Senate President and to oust former Senate President Mariano Cuenco. In its resolution, the Senate En Banc dismissed the petition, saying it will not “sally into the legitimate domain of the Senate on the plea that our refusal to intercede might lead into a crisis, even a resolution.
” However, the SC En Banc found that there was a quorum at the session where Cuenco was elected as acting Senate President. At that time, there were only 23 senators because Senator Tomas Confessor was in the United States and outside the Senate’s jurisdiction.
“Therefore an absolute majority of all the members of the Senate less one , constitutes constitutional majority of the Senate for the purpose of a quorum,” the High Court said.
“In fine, all the four justice agree that the Court being confronted with the practical situation that of the twenty three senators who may participate in the Senate deliberations in the days immediately after this decision, twelve senators will support Senator Cuenco and, at most, eleven will side with Senator Avelino, it would be most injudicious to declare the latter as the rightful President of the Senate, that office being essentially one that depends exclusively upon the will of the majority of the senators, the rule of the Senate about tenure of the President of that body being amenable at any time by that majority,” it added.
The SC En Banc said it made this ruling partly upon the grounds stated by former Justices Jose Feria, Gregorio Perfecto, and Manuel Briones in their separate opinions. Feria argued that the constitutional majority should be calculated based on the actual members within the Senate’s jurisdiction.
“Therefore, as Senator Confesor was in the United States and absent from the jurisdiction of the Senate, the actual members of the Senate at its session of February 21, 1949, were twenty-three and therefore 12 constituted a majority,” he stated. Perfecto, meanwhile, said the presence of the 12 senators was enough for quorum. He stated that he was inclined to conclude that Cuenco’s designation was an emergency measure to fill the vacuum created by Avelino’s desertation of the office.
Aside from the Avelino case, Gatchalian and Lascon also cited the May 5, 2015 plenary session of the Senate. During the session, the Senate declared quorum with 12 senators present as four senators were out of the country and were not counted in the determination of a quorum pursuant to an SC ruling while three senators cannot physically attend as they were under detention.
“Ang naging majority noon, nakapag-conduct ng business at nakapag-elect, 12. So pinag-aralan namin ito,” he said. “We’re waiting for the 13th senator para makapag-elect kami ng bagong Senate President. Now if the new minority group makaka produce naman ng 13, which I don’t, ay pwede sila mag-elect ng kanilang Senate President,” he said. “Illegal ‘yun. Marami siyang illegal na ginagawa eh. Kasi unang-una, illegal ‘yung hindi sila nag a-attend ng session, nag bo-boycott,” he said.
Senate Gatchalian Cayetano Quorum Avelino Vs. Cuenco Supreme Court Philippines
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