Senate website lists Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore amid dispute

The official website of the Senate now indicates Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as its Senate President Pro Tempore, and Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri as its Majority Leader.

Malacañang and the House of Representatives have recognized the election of Gatchalian as Senate President Pro Tempore and as acting Senate President following the Senate session on June 3, but the bloc of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has said he remains the Senate President.

Senator Loren Legarda has also released a video saying she remains the Senate President Pro Tempore, saying the Gatchalian bloc has yet to reach the needed 13 votes to wrest the leadership.

The Senate website is handled by the Senate's Electronic Data Processing and Management Information System (EDP-MIS) Bureau.

On June 3, 12 senators present — then-minority senators plus Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero — held a Senate session with a quorum declared based on the Supreme Court decision in the Avelino v. Cuenco case in 1949.

The High Court ruled in 1949 that an absolute majority of 12 constitutes a constitutional majority of the Senate for a quorum after one senator, Tomas Confesor, out of the 24, was in the United States and was outside the Senate’s jurisdiction.

The 12 senators on Wednesday voted to declare vacant all elected positions of the Senate, including that of Senate President.

Gatchalian was then elected Senate President Pro Tempore and was declared by the senators present as the acting Senate President.

Alan Peter Cayetano has insisted that he remains the “legitimate, legal, moral Senate President.”

Before this, Senator Joel Villanueva served as the acting Majority Leader, being reinstated to the post after the change in leadership at the Senate on May 11, 2026. —NB, GMA News