ANG SAYA ni SOTTO! Zubiri at JV Ejercito SUMANIB na sa Minority Bloc, Tinanggihan si Cayetano!

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]I would like to be associated with the minority block, Mr. President, if I may.

[00:00:04]>> I would like to thank uh uh Mr. President for the trust and honor, that uh that uh I was offered to become the majority leader.

[00:00:13]>> be an independent or will you be with the minority? Yes, I'll still I'll uh For for now, Mr. President, I'll be with the minority. Letter from the House of Representatives transmitting to the Senate 27 copies of committee report number 261 on House Resolution number 989 titled Resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte together with the annexes thereto and 27 USB devices containing file copies of the above.

[00:00:49]Rules, refer to the committee.

[00:00:52]Refer to the committee on rules.

[00:00:56]Letter from the House of Representatives transmitting to the Senate the sealed box containing the documents from the Bureau of Internal Revenue relative to the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.

[00:01:10]Refer to the committee on rules.

[00:01:14]Letter from the House of Representatives informing the Senate that in accordance with Section 16, Rule 6 of the Rules of Procedure in the impeachment proceedings of the House of Representatives, 20th Congress Representatives Luis Ridon Guevara, Zamora, Defensor Diokno De Lima, Bag-ao, Flores, Suan and Chua have been elected as prosecutors in the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.

[00:01:44]Refer to the committee on rules.

[00:01:57]Acting majority leader. Acting leader.

[00:02:00]Mr. President.

[00:02:01]Yeah. Mr. President.

[00:02:02]>> The minority leader is recognized.

[00:02:05]I um I heard and we we we we saw the notice the message from the House of Representatives.

[00:02:14]And you have referred the articles of impeachment to the committee on rules.

[00:02:20]May we know if we have already constituted the committee on rules?

[00:02:24]The committee on rules is in the acting capacity. So, in accordance with section 19, the same members and Senator Villanueva. Actually, for your information, minority leader, we were in caucus and wanted to meet also the minority to start reading the committee chairmanships, but we thought it prudent to convene the court first. And then when we remove our after we convene the court and suspend, we can go back into session to start reading the committees. Oh. So, we I take it that right now the chairman of the committee on rules is in an acting capacity.

[00:03:07]>> Yes, Senator Villanueva.

[00:03:08]>> And the membership at this point would only be the ex-officio members. And the members before the all positions were declared vacant.

[00:03:17]>> from the previous In accordance with section 19.

[00:03:22]Will you refresh me with section 19 your honor, Mr. President, because uh Yes.

[00:03:28]Yes. And and to be fair, Senator Pangilinan has a interpretation question. That's why we referred this to the committee on rules. Okay.

[00:03:37]>> The chairman and the members of the permanent committee shall commence in the exercise of their duties upon election. They shall cease when their successor shall have been elected or designated. So, since we have not yet uh elected or designated uh their successors except for the majority leader.

[00:03:58]Uh our interpretation that it continues.

[00:04:00]But uh Senator Pangilinan did bring up the uh seeming conflict that if it's all seats vacant, then it's vacant. But then my initial statement was that you harmonize the rules and if you harmonize it with uh pragmatically with what's happening, then we should never have a complete vacancy. Having said that, it is with the committee on rules, but I don't think Senator Villanueva scheduled it for hearing until we have the permanent members uh just to be sure. And we hope to start doing that uh this afternoon. We will uh accept that for now, Mr. President.

[00:04:38]>> you, minority leader. We we uh we make a note of the manifestation. Thank you.

[00:04:43]>> And and I uh will note and and recognize uh not only your observations today, but the observation of Senator Pangilinan. And if we need to clarify later on, it it'll be a good opportunity for us to look at the rules uh given the 1392 uh present setup, unless we are overtaken by events. Yes. Okay.

[00:05:07]Majority leader?

[00:05:15]Uh correction, Mr. President, uh 1311.

[00:05:21]Yeah. Oh, well, in the It hasn't been corrected because uh Senator Zubiri and Senator JV said that they are independent, but I same with Senator Pimentel, we started out independent and then Senator Zubiri asked us if for the purposes of we can join the majority. So, it's their choice if they remain minority or they join the majority or if you can get two more members then you'll be the new majority.

[00:05:54]Yes, Mr. President. Mr. President, may I?

[00:05:56]Of course. Former Senate President Zubiri. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

[00:06:01]Um I would like to be associated with the minority block, Mr. President, if I may. Um fence sitting and I got abstain. I got abstain now but I have a feeling and to vote on which issue that I think is important for the Filipino people. But when it comes to the organization, I would like to associate myself with the minority, Mr. President. Thank you.

[00:06:23]Thank you, Senator Zubiri.

[00:06:29]So Senator Hontiveros would also like to manifest.

[00:06:36]>> Yes, first of all, Mr. President, I'd like to thank uh uh Mr. President for the trust and honor, you know, that uh that uh I was offered to become the majority leader, but as I as I have mentioned to you uh personally that uh as of this time I would uh rather maintain my uh um independence uh and with what is happening all over um I I think I'll be able to perform uh my task very well and my pro my uh pet programs very well as an independent. But again, nonetheless um um Mr. President, I would like to thank you for the trust and confidence.

[00:07:14]Being majority leader is a is a very um of course, it's a very it's the one of the most powerful, we would say, position in the Senate, but I I guess um I have um at this point I would like to maintain my independence.

[00:07:30]And I also understand, I also recognize that you will say that you'll be our number 14, but uh until the until the time that we vote, any member we have to respect their decision and always ascribe good faith. So, we will continue to be good friends despite the political divisions or the nomenclature of who is in the majority or the minority. So, for the purposes of today to the future and unless a change is made, will you be an independent or will be with the minority? Yes, I'll still I'll uh For For now, Mr. President, I'll be with the minority. Okay. But again, I would like to thank you for that and I for the respect and we will all still be friends no matter what. Thank you, Mr. President.

[00:08:20]>> Thank you, Senator Hontiveros. So, the Secretariat has that noted and we can now compute the membership at a 13 11 proportion.

[00:08:33]So, that we do not uh we're not accused of uh any delay.

[00:08:39]Uh Acting Majority Leader, what's your pleasure about the articles of impeachment of >> President. Just to put on record as Senator JV made mention, this uh his statement is for the purposes of a proportional representation in the uh membership of our committees. Also, Mr. President, Senator Lacson uh asked this representation to put also on record the membership of the Senate Committee on Rules uh ex officio members uh would have to be the new ex officio members.

[00:09:14]So, just to put that on record, Mr. President. That's a correct observation from uh Senator Lacson.

[00:09:19]>> Thank you. Mr. President, with the uh permission of the body, the articles of impeachment have been referred to the Committee on Rules. May I respectfully move to refer the articles of impeachment to the Impeachment Court. I so move, Mr. President.

[00:09:36]>> Is there any objection?

[00:09:38]There's no objection. It is so referred.

[00:09:42]Mr. President, may I move that we suspend the session to convene the impeachment court. So move, Mr. President.

[00:09:50]If there's no objection, we will suspend and convene the impeachment court.