BY ATTY. JULIUS GREGORY B. DELGADO
JUDICIAL INTERVENTION TO RESOLVE SENATE LEADERSHIP ROW
The Supreme Court recently junked the taxpayer’s suit filed by teacher Barry Tayam ruling that he failed to show direct and imminent injury he will suffer if the Court does not intervene in the current Senate leadership row. The question, however, is why the Cayetano Bloc is not filing their own petition if deposed Allan Peter Cayetano is questioning the legality and validity of the acts of the Gatchalian Bloc declaring the existence of quorum, declaring all seats vacant and electing Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Juan Miguel Zubiri as Senate President Pro Tempore and Senate Majority Leader, respectively.
The Supreme Court is conservative in crossing the line of intervening in leadership row of Congress honoring the time-honored legal principle of political question doctrine. This doctrine simply states that the Court will not meddle in the affairs of a co-equal branch, in this case the Senate of the Philippines. Similar incident happened decades ago when then-Senate President Jose Avelino and his allies walked out of a Senate session, leaving only 12 senators behind. The remaining 12 senators continued the session, declared all Senate positions vacant, and elected Senator Mariano Jesus Cuenco as the new acting Senate President. Avelino questioned the acts before the Supreme Court arguing that 12 members did not constitute a valid constitutional quorum.
In the now famous Avelino vs. Cuenco, 83 Phil. 17 (March 4, 1949), the Supreme Court initially dismissed the quo warranto petition filed by deposed Senate President Avelino stating that the selection of a Senate President is an internal, political matter for the Senate to decide, and the judiciary should generally avoid interfering. However, on reconsideration, the Court ruled that there was a valid quorum since then Senator Tomas Confessor was in the United States and is beyond the coercive powers of the Senate, hence, the active roster of the Senate then was 23.
Cayetano Bloc may have reservations in filing their own petition as the Supreme Court may: 1) dismiss the petition based on political question doctrine; and 2) may affirm and render Avelino vs. Cuenco, supra, still a good law and is applicable in the instant case as Senator Jinggoy Estrada is under detention for Plunder charges and Senator Rogelio “Bato” Dela Rosa is on the run because of an outstanding Warrant of Arrest from the International Criminal Court. Besides, there are rumors that another senator may join the Gatchalian Bloc in the coming days which will render a Cayetano petition moot.
Nonetheless, there is currently a leadership impasse and question of legitimacy hounding the Senate which the Supreme Court, once a petition filed by a person with locus standi or legal standing, should proceed to decide to settle the matter once and for all. After all, there are many priority measures already in the second and third readings which could benefit the citizenry outweighing any political interest.