Philippine Senate ends impasse after President says 'get back to work'

MANILA - Philippine senators broke a days-long legislative standoff on Wednesday after a member of the majority bloc broke ranks and appeared on the Senate floor, allowing a rival faction to form a quorum and elect an acting Senate president, though some members disputed the legality of the session.

The breakthrough came shortly after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr urged the Senate to "get back to work," expressing disbelief that an impasse in the upper chamber had stalled urgent legislative duties ahead of a congressional break.

The Senate had been paralysed by a sharpening dispute between the majority and minority blocs, with the latter calling on the incumbent Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano to resign. They accused Cayetano of failing in his duties after the Senate failed to convene for the past two days.

"The developments in the Senate were in accordance with the law and the rule of law," Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro told a press briefing, adding the president's office "recognises and respects the decision of the new majority and the leadership of acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian."

After securing the quorum, senators elected Gatchalian as Senate President pro tempore, placing him next in line to exercise the powers of the Senate president.

"This is an illegal coup d'état that includes trampling on our Constitution," Cayetano said in a live video on Facebook. "I am still the legitimate, legal, moral Senate President of the Philippines."

SENATE SHOULD BE A STABLE POLITICAL BODY

Senators from the minority quickly moved to reorganise the chamber, electing new committee chairpersons, including for the powerful Blue Ribbon Committee, which investigates corruption and wrongdoing in government.

They also approved a resolution amending Senate impeachment rules to allow for the election of a presiding officer in cases not involving the president. Before the change, the rules stated that the Senate president would oversee such proceedings.

The standoff began last month when Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, reappeared after months out of public view to cast a decisive vote to install Cayetano as president of the chamber just as it was about to receive an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Dela Rosa then slipped away early on May 14, hours after chaos and gunfire erupted in the Senate following his appeal to the public for help, claiming that his arrest was imminent.

Cayetano is a close ally of the Duterte family. Former president Rodrigo Duterte, Sara's father, is in ICC detention in The Hague and will face trial charged with crimes against humanity.

Dela Rosa is wanted on similar charges over his role as the top enforcer of Duterte's bloody "war on drugs". Both Duterte and dela Rosa deny the ICC charges.

"The Senate should be a stable political body, not a theatre or spectacle, because at the end of the day, it is the public that will suffer," said political science professor Jean Encinas-Franco, adding that the impasse sends a negative signal to investors.

(Reporting by Karen Lema, Nestor Corrales and Mikhail Flores; Editing by John Mair and David Stanway)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 4:01 AM.