CHICKENPIETwelve senators walked into the Philippine Senate chamber. They looked at the empty seats. They counted to twelve. They said: that's a majority.
They are correct that twelve is more than zero.
This is how Sherwin Gatchalian became acting Senate president — not through some grand constitutional process, but through the kind of math that happens when a bloc loses its senators to The Hague, plunder charges, and an unexplained absence from the building. Alan Peter Cayetano was the Senate president. Then he was absent for three days. Then twelve senators decided absent was the same as gone.
Cayetano says it's a coup. Gatchalian says it's the rules. The Palace recognized the new arrangement before the 5 o'clock news. Escudero showed up, cast the vote that mattered, and left. Nobody held a press conference. Nobody had to.
Done in an afternoon.
The bloc that ran the Philippine Senate collapsed in installments: one ICC warrant for Dela Rosa, one plunder arrest for Estrada, one president who apparently decided showing up was optional. The flood control money that Estrada allegedly skimmed was supposed to stop Manila from drowning every rainy season. Manila still drowns every rainy season. Dela Rosa is hiding somewhere the court cannot reach him, which in this country can be anywhere with good internet and cooperative local officials.
What twelve senators are fighting for isn't policy. It isn't the public good — please. It's committee chairmanships. The power to schedule the hearing, pick the agenda, decide which oversight investigation gets a date and which one gets indefinitely tabled.
The gavel is a prop in a play about other gavels.
Gatchalian is acting president. Cayetano is filing a protest. Sotto says they might not elect a real president until late July. Meanwhile, classes resume tomorrow.
Nobody called a session about the school chairs.
