SENATE President Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday said some members of the new minority bloc were trying to stage a “counter coup” by wooing majority bloc members to join them.
Cayetano had barely warmed his seat as Senate chief when he received the report of the alleged “active” coup attempt.
In a press briefing, the senator said the concerned minority members even used “intimidation” in convincing some majority members to switch sides.
Cayetano declined to answer media queries as to how many minority members were trying to dislodge the new Senate leadership.
He also kept mum about whether the intimidation he was referring to involved legal issues faced by some of his majority bloc mates.
Cayetano’s nine-member minority group managed to convince four members from the majority bloc to jump to their side — securing the needed 13 votes to oust then-Senate president Vicente Sotto III on May 11.
The “swing votes” that installed Cayetano as the new Senate chief came from Senators Pia Cayetano, Camille Villar, Mark Villar and Loren Legarda.
Cayetano said he would like to consult the minority bloc on the convening of the Senate as impeachment court following the transmittal on Wednesday of the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.
“But I’ll only see them on Monday. They were quite busy now trying to convince our [majority] members to join them again. That’s expected,” Cayetano said in Filipino and English.
“There were invitations to talk, there’s [a] threat,” he said. Asked whether the new 13 majority bloc is solid, Cayetano said, “You’re always solid until you’re not. But I believe in the 13. I believe in our cause.”
He said an emissary wanted to set up a meeting with the two unnamed minority senators whom he said are his friends. “So, I told him to tell them to join us instead. He merely laughed.”
Cayetano on Wednesday night called for a majority bloc caucus to discuss Senate committee reorganization following the leadership change.
Present were the Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Imelda Marcos, Joel Villanueva, the Cayetanos, the Villars and Legarda. They were in the middle of the meeting when the shooting erupted.
