(UPDATE) MANILA, Philippines -- With just over a month as Senate chief following his ouster on Wednesday, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is now the second "shortest serving" Senate president in Philippine history.
The late senator Camilo Osias served as Senate president for 26 days due to party changes.
Cayetano was Senate president from May 11 to June 17 -- or for one month and six days following his ouster during the Senate special session called by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
During his meeting with some pastors on May 18, Cayetano said, "Yesterday (May 17), someone sent me that the shortest serving Senate president served for 13 days."
"So, I'm not sure if I'll survive the 13 days or we'll last only for 7, 8, days. But what I do know is this: one day I will leave this office, maybe today, maybe a month from now, maybe after the impeachment. Who knows? But what matters is what I do in the middle," Cayetano said.
He sealed his fate after his former blocmate, Sen. Joel Villanueva, defected to the majority bloc and became its 13th member. Cayetano saw it coming after Villanueva announced that he will attend the special session.
Earlier on Wednesday, Cayetano acknowledged that his allies no longer have the numbers to retain control of the Senate leadership, saying he would not stand in the way of a vote to elect a new Senate president during a special session, even as he maintained that the chamber's controversial June 3 leadership change remained constitutionally questionable.
In a lengthy statement issued ahead of the June 17 special session, Cayetano said he had accepted the political reality facing his bloc after discussions with fellow lawmakers, while stressing that his opposition was never about holding on to power but about defending what he described as the Senate's independence and pursuing accountability over alleged corruption in government.
"And now, after speaking with Sen. Joel Villanueva, it appears our colleagues on the other side will soon have the numbers to elect a new Senate President. I will not stand in the way of that vote," Cayetano said.
The senator's remarks appeared to signal the end of a weeks-long leadership struggle that has divided the chamber since the disputed June 3 reorganization of the Senate.
Despite conceding that a new leader may soon emerge, Cayetano reiterated his position that the earlier leadership change lacked the quorum required under the Constitution and remains subject to legal challenge.
"We have said from the first, and we still maintain, that what was done on June 3 was done without the quorum the Constitution requires, and was, for that reason, void," he said, adding that the matter is now before the courts.
Under the Constitution, a senator needs 13 votes to be elected Senate president. The majority elected Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate president minutes after he opened the session.
Cayetano on May 11 unseated then Senate president Vicente Sotto III after securing 13 votes, including the "crucial" vote of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa who went out of hiding after six months just to install the former.
