Dennis Gaviola

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RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:617px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175551523456120140421-senate-jc-a01a8476 (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Senate of the Philippines building in Pasay City. J<em>onathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Members of the Senate majority on Monday clashed with their counterparts in the minority over the membership in the bicameral Commission on Appointments—the body charged by the Constitution with approving or rejecting appointments made by the President of the Philippines. </p><p>Under the Constitution, the CA consists of the Senate President as ex officio Chairman, 12 senators, and 12 members of the House of Representatives, elected by each House on the basis of proportional representation from the political parties and parties of organizations registered under the party-list system.</p><p>The President will nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in this constitution.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/focus/09/02/17/alamin-layunin-at-kapangyarihan-ng-commission-on-appointments">ALAMIN: Layunin at kapangyarihan ng Commission on Appointments</a></div><p>Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva nominated Senators Alan Cayetano, Bato Dela Rosa, JV Ejercito, Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Go, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Raffy Tulfo, Villanueva and Mark Villar, leaving two slots for the minority out of the 12-man delegation of the Senate to the CA.</p><p>Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III objected the nominations, wanting one more seat for the minority to bring the configuration to 9-3.</p><p>Villanueva, however, explained that the computation is based on an 80-20 representation between majority and minority. He said 80% of 12 members is 9.6, which may be rounded off to 10 members of the CA from majority.</p><p>Villanueva added that the 80-20 representation came from the majority&#x27;s 19 members, which, if divided over 24, results to 0.79. Meanwhile, the five members of the minority translate to 20% of the 24-member chamber.</p><p>Sotto, however, believes there should be another computation, noting that &quot;the Supreme Court has decided that if there is controversy in the composition of the Commission on Appointments, it is very clear that the Senate must follow the party lines and the party representation.&quot;</p><p>&quot;So if this body elects to follow the Supreme Court decision on the articles of impeachment, why can&#x27;t they follow the decision of the Supreme Court when it comes to the computation of membership in the Commission on Appointments?&quot; he stressed.</p><p>Sotto argued that since there are six members of the Nationalist People&#x27;s Coalition (NPC) in Senate, three of them should be given a seat in CA. Nacionalista Party, meanwhile, has five incumbent senators, so &quot;two and a half should be in the Commission on Appointments.&quot;</p><p>The rest are single members of parties. He said, &quot;They could talk to the other members so that their 0.5 can be a total of 1 for each representation.&quot;</p><p>Villanueva countered with jurisprudence, quoting the case of Cosetang vs. Mitra, wherein the SC noted that the House membership was based on 80-20 representation.</p><p>Meanwhile, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Miguel Zubiri said should parties look for partners for the fractional membership, citing his experience as a Senate president.</p><p>&quot;In the time when I was Senate President, Your Honor, the Senate President, I gave my share actually to the Senate President, to Senator Chiz Escudero so that he&#x27;ll have a full membership of the CA. Kasi kalahati ko siya. Wala akong kahati dahil ako yung presiding officer ng CA. So yung punto ko po dyan, Mr. President, kawawa naman yung .5 seat ng minority .5 na lang nga eh tatanggalin niya pa at ibibigay niyo pa sa iba.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Pero you cannot rob us from that right of us to be able to sit in the Commission on Appointments,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;We can make this easy for you and we can make it also difficult for you,&quot; he added.</p><p>Villanueva, once again, rebutted him, saying that the Senate must stick to the mathematical formula based on the SC decisions instead of the &quot;tradition on informal agreements between senators.&quot;</p><p>&quot;The concern here now, Mr. President, is can tradition on informal agreements between senators be cited in determining how many members from the majority and the minority blocs will be represented in the CA? Mr. President, again, this representation submits that we stick to the established mathematical formula in the use of Supreme Court decisions.&quot;</p><p>Sotto then cited the Guingona vs. Gonzales case, which he said should prevail over the Coseteng vs. Mitra case.</p><p>Amid the argument over SC decisions, Senate President Francis Escudero stated for the record that neither the majority nor the minority has a monopoly on interpreting what the SC said in regard to its decisions on the composition of the Commission on Appointments.</p><p>Escudero underscored that the Senate, as a &quot;deliberative body,&quot; should decide on the matters.</p><p>&quot;Chair takes exception to the statement that this is being rammed because we debated on it and when there is a motion, duly objected to our rules, state very clearly that we should divide the House by acting on that clear difference in opinion with respect to matters that the Senate needs to act upon, specifically that we should constitute and organize the Commission on Appointments within 30 days after the organization of both the House and the Senate, that date lapsing on August 27, 2025.&quot;</p><p>Escudero declined to rule on the motion as senators retreated behind closed doors to settle the matter.</p><p>Returning from the closed door meeting, Cayetano volunteered to withdraw his name from consideration so as not to hold back the election of nine other senators to the CA.</p><p>Nobody objected, and Dela Rosa, Ejercito, Estrada, Go, Marcoleta, Marcos, Raffy Tulfo, Villanueva, and Mark Villar were elected.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/11/ca-bypasses-ruiz-aguda-confirms-lazaro-aliling-1856">CA bypasses Ruiz, Aguda, confirms Lazaro, Aliling<br/></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FEkz2l_L-fs?si=4Hgi1MASfdS8UwGE" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br/></div>

<p>Members of the Senate majority on Monday clashed with their counterparts in the minority over the membership in the bicameral Commission on Appointments—the body charged by the Constitution with approving or rejecting appointments made by the President of the Philippines.</p>

Members of the Senate majority on Monday clashed with their counterparts in the minority over the membership in the bicameral Commission on Appointments—the body charged by the Constitution with approving or rejecting appointments made by the President of the Philippines.

Senators wrangle over membership in CA

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Senators wrangle over membership in CA

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 18, 2025 07:16 PM PHT

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