MANILA, Philippines— Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has conceded that the camp of Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian now has the numbers to elect a new Senate president.
“The arithmetic has changed. The Constitution has not. And now, after speaking with Sen. Joel Villanueva, it appears our colleagues on the other side will soon have the numbers to elect a new Senate president,” Cayetano said in a Facebook post ahead of the convening of a special session of Congress called by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.The special session is set to start at 9 a.m on Wednesday.
“I will not stand in the way of that vote,” he added.
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Villanueva, who belonged to Cayetano’s group, earlier announced that he would attend the special session called by the president.
“No leadership in a democracy is ever permanent; every office we hold is a loan, never a possession. To whoever this chamber lawfully elects, I extend my congratulations and my cooperation in advance,” Cayetano went on.
“And so I will end with a message to the public — it has been the honor of my life to serve as your Senate president. I may leave the position of SP, but I am honored to still be your PS — your public servant,” he added.
In the same post, Cayetano thanked those who stood with him, particularly detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for his “deep personal sacrifice” and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta “for not bowing to pressure even when threats of arrest have been coming from all sides.”
READ: Court orders Jinggoy Estrada suspended for 90 days
“I will not forget it, and I will not let it count for nothing,” he said.
Estrada has been detained in a Quezon City jail on a non-bailable plunder case related to the flood control projects scandal.
On Tuesday, Sandiganbayan ordered the 90-day preventive suspension of Estrada, who was also charged with graft for supposedly receiving P573 million in kickbacks from budget allocations for flood control projects last year.
Marcoleta, meanwhile, acknowledged that he could also be arrested anytime soon as he faces plunder and indirect bribery complaints over campaign donations worth P75 million.
“And to our brother who, in the end, felt he had no choice but to make peace with the new reality: I hold no bitterness toward you. I have seen the pressures that were brought to bear, and I understand them,” Cayetano said, apparently referring to Villanueva, who was also implicated in the flood control controversy.
READ: LIVE UPDATES: Congress convenes in special session | June 17, 2026
“May the public’s judgment of you be a kind one. We are not enemies — only colleagues, brothers caught in a moment larger than us all,” he added.
According to Cayetano, it was not the loss of a position that saddened him but watching the country “slip toward darkness — to see our people suffer, and to hear some begin to say there is no hope.”
“I am sad that so many in our government are willing to look away from corruption when looking away is convenient — to trade the people’s right to the truth for a season of political advantage. That is the real loss. Not a gavel, but a conscience,” he said. /dp /atm
