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Sen. Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian was formally elected Senate President at the June 17 special session called by President Marcos, ending a five-week leadership war after Sen. Joel Villanueva joined the majority to give it the 13 votes it had lacked — and after Alan Peter Cayetano, an hour before the vote, conceded the new bloc had the numbers.
The Supreme Court on June 10 threw out a petition filed by a high school teacher asking the court to affirm the quorum in the June 3 Senate session that installed Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian — ruling that the petitioner failed to show any direct injury from the disputed session, leaving the Senate leadership contest unresolved by the judiciary.
The Philippine Senate failed to convene on the evening of June 1 after the Cayetano majority bloc and the chamber's presiding officers did not appear for the scheduled 5 p.m. session — leaving the 11-member minority waiting two hours without a quorum and an agenda full of pending legislation unaddressed.
Twelve senators broke a two-day deadlock on June 3 by electing Sen. Win Gatchalian as acting Senate president after Cayetano's bloc lost its majority — but Cayetano refuses to cede the title, leaving the chamber with two rival leaders and the impeachment trial countdown ticking.
The 11-member Senate minority bloc stormed out of the plenary hall on May 26 after Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano's majority attempted to push through a rule change allowing remote participation in sessions — a maneuver the minority decried as a procedural "railroading" with potential implications for the upcoming Sara Duterte impeachment trial. The walkout is the second in as many weeks and has prompted the minority to threaten a Supreme Court petition.
