Marcos and Duterte Engage in Senate "Power Struggle"
According to Philippine media outlet Daily Inquirer, on the 2nd, Kayaetano, the Senate President aligned with Duterte who had only assumed office three weeks prior, was ousted. Independent-leaning senator Sherwin Gatchalian became the interim Senate President.
To be fair, the entire incident is filled with absurdity. Recently, Marcos-aligned forces attempted to initiate an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte and tried to arrest Duterte’s ally and Senator Ronan dela Rosa.
In mid-May, Duterte’s faction took the initiative in the Senate, leveraging their numerical advantage to elect Kayaetano as the new Senate President. After his election, Kayaetano immediately announced providing “protective oversight” for dela Rosa, which caused Marcos’s surprise raid on the Senate on May 13 to fail.
However, by June, the situation underwent new developments. After failing in their Senate struggle, Marcos-aligned forces promptly arrested another Duterte ally and Senator Estrada—prompting Duterte-aligned senators to protest by boycotting sessions.
During this period, Marcos’s camp quickly seized the opportunity, uniting multiple centrist senators to launch a vote to replace the Senate President. Although Kayaetano insisted the vote was invalid, the Marcos presidential office immediately recognized Gatchalian’s interim presidency following the announcement of the election results.
Although Gatchalian belongs to the neutral faction, Philippine media believe that based on the so-called logic of “procedural justice,” he may accelerate the passage of the impeachment motion against Vice President Sara Duterte.
That said, it remains uncertain how long Gatchalian will hold the position of interim Senate President. Recent rounds of clashes and tensions within the Philippine Senate clearly indicate that this body has become the main battlefield for power struggles between Marcos and Duterte.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1866973466079435/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.