Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano raises his voice during a press briefing at the Senate on May 14, 2026 as he responds to questions on whether the gunfire incident inside the Senate could be considered an "attack."Ryan Baldemor / The Philippine STAR

Cayetano keeps Senate presidency, for now

by · philstar

MANILA, Philippines — Amid rumors of a coup against Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano’s majority, the chamber started session yesterday with his leadership intact but with Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and JV Ejercito formally joining the minority.

This left the dominant bloc in a delicate situation, as the minority now only needs two more senators to become the new majority.

Plenary session opened with the election of Taguig City administrator Jose Luis Montales as the new Senate secretary, after Mark Llandro Mendoza resigned last week.

After this, no lawmaker stood on the floor to move for the vacating of leadership positions, effectively putting an end to the rumored coup.

During the session, Zubiri and Ejercito officially manifested their shift to the minority.

“I would like to be associated with the minority bloc, Mr. President, if I may,” Zubiri said on the floor.

“Binatikos nga ako nila, sabi nila na ako nag fence-sitting at nag-abstain (They criticized me, they said, for fence-sitting and abstaining). I abstained only because I wanted to have a free hand to vote on which issue that I think is important for the Filipino people. But when it comes to the reorganization, I would like to associate myself with the minority,” he added.

In an interview after the session, Zubiri said his decision was prompted by the leadership’s “handling of the shootout” last Wednesday.

“For the first time in the history, nagkaputukan dito, at nagkagulo-gulo (there was shooting here and there was chaos). That has never happened in the history of this great body. So we made the decision, I made the decision with my family that it has to change,” Zubiri said.

Zubiri and Ejercito made the manifestations after they attended a caucus with minority members at the office of Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III held before 2 p.m.

Present at the caucus were Senators Panfilo Lacson, Bam Aquino, Erwin Tulfo, Francis Pangilinan, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Raffy Tulfo and Lito Lapid.