12 senators enough to muster quorum with absence of Estrada, Dela Rosa —NUPL head

With the current number of sitting senators, 12 are enough to muster a quorum and elect an Acting Senate President. National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) president Ephraim Cortez said on Wednesday.

In a message to GMA News Online, Cortez said that the arrest of Senator Jinggoy Estrada on plunder charges and the absence of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who is in hiding amid an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

This leaves only 22 senators, according to Cortez.

“They only need a majority to have a quorum and to conduct business. With the arrest of Senator Estrada and while Senator Dela Rosa is in hiding, they are not counted in the determination of the quorum,” Cortez said.

“This has been the Senate's practice in the past. This was how they computed the quorum during the previous Senate when both Sen. Estrada and then Sen. Bong Revilla were arrested and detained. They were not counted in the determination of quorum,” he added.

Cortez said the number is enough to conduct a business, elect a new Senate Pro Tempore, and elect a committee chairperson.

“Since they have a quorum to conduct business, it is within their authority to appoint an acting Senate President in view of the absence of Senator Cayetano, who refused and failed to attend the session. By necessity, they had to elect an acting Senate President for them to conduct business,” he said.

However, he said they do not have enough votes to remove the Senate president.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian was earlier elected Senate President Pro Tempore after the Senate reconvened Wednesday, paving the way for the minority bloc-led senators in attendance to declare him the acting Senate President.

According to Gatchalian, the quorum of 12 senators is based on the majority of 22 senators.

Gatchalian also cited a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that found an absolute majority of 12 out of 23 members constitutes a constitutional majority for quorum purposes.

All members of the former majority bloc, aside from Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, were not present during the session. — BM, GMA News