A heated exchange occurred on Monday between Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto and Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva over the election of members of the Commission on Appointments (CA)—the body mandated by the Constitution to confirm or reject the President’s political appointments.
The Supreme Court ruling said the CA membership must be based on proportional representation of political parties
During the plenary session on August 18, nine senators from the majority bloc were elected to the powerful commission.
The following were the newly elected members in the Senate plenary;
- Bato dela Rosa
- JV Ejercito
- Jinggoy Estrada
- Bong Go
- Rodante Marcoleta
- Imee Marcos
- Raffy Tulfo
- Joel Villanueva
- Mark Villar
Amid the elections, Sotto protested the election of 10 majority senators to the CA, he argued that the five-member minority bloc should have proportional political party representation, leaving only two seats for the minority.
Sotto elaborated on the proportional allocation formula based on political parties:
“Six NPCs, tatlo ang uupo, they decide who will sit. Five Nationalista Party—2.5 seats, so may bakanting point five. PDP-Laban has three members, which equals 1.5, isa at may bakanteng .5. Then there are ten members who are either single members of the party or independents. In that case, ten of them, five of them, sit in the CA 'yun ang dapat formula. Simpleng-simple sana, Mr. President,” Sottor explained.
Deputy Minority Leader Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri backed up Sotto's sentiments, saying including a “half seat” that could be shared with a majority senator.
“The five-member minority bloc argues it should have at least 2.5 seats—meaning one seat would be shared with a majority senator,” he said.
“Point five na nga lang tatanggalin niyo pa at bibigay niyo pa sa iba. Papayag kami na may kahati kami sa majority. Yung minority sana pagbigyan na makaupo rin whether first half or second half of the 20th Congress,” Zubiri added.
Moreover, Sotto criticized the majority’s approach, warning that the election should not proceed until a fair discussion occurs.
“We were expecting at least some kind of cooperation or acknowledgement of the members of the minority before the Majority Leader all of a sudden stands up… We can make this easy for you and we can make it also difficult for you. We leave it up to you, Mr. President," Sotto said.
"My objection stands. I don’t think we should continue with the election until we have discussed this properly, Mr. President," Minority Leader said.
He explained the calculation of majority and minority seats based on current Senate composition.
“If you look at the composition, Mr. President, the Senate has 19 members in the majority, five in the minority. Using proportional representation, 0.79 times 12 is 9.6, rounded to 10 members for the majority. 0.20 times 12 equals 2.4, rounded to 2 for the minority. Membership in the CA is a matter of proportional allocation of seats belonging to the party, coalition, or bloc, and not the senators themselves,” Villanueva stated.
Sotto countered that the constitutional basis for proportional representation lies with political parties, not majority or minority blocs.
“The Gingona versus Gonzalez issue should be the prevailing… The basis of proportional representation from political parties and party organizations. Ang linaw nun eh. Wala sinasabi tong majority and minority,” he said.
The debate also touched on informal traditions within the Senate.
Villanueva noted past practices of “half seats” being shared between senators of different blocs, but stressed that such practices cannot override formal rules and Supreme Court guidance.
“The representation submits that we stick to the established mathematical formula and the use of Supreme Court decisions as guidance,” Villanueva said. “No practice or tradition established by mere tolerance can, without judicial acquiescence, ripen into a doctrine of practical construction of the fundamental law.”
Sotto, however, insisted on honoring the minority’s half-seat entitlement.
“Kaya nga sabi ko, Mr. President, maybe if we cannot seem to get ourselves from that deadlock, there’s a point 0.5 seat, but we must at least recognize that the minority has the point 0.5 seat… But you cannot rob us from that .5 right to be able to sit in the Commission on Appointments,” Sotto said.
Villanueva defended the majority’s position, citing previous Supreme Court decisions and mathematical formulas for proportional representation. He referenced the 80-20 model used in previous cases.
“No one's robbing of anything because we're doing this on the basis of the Supreme Court decisions, Mr. President,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano requested a temporary withdrawal of his nomination citing an unresolved dispute over minority bloc representation in the commission.
Under the Constitution, the CA consists of 25 members of Congress. Specifically, it is composed of 12 Senators and 12 from House of the Representatives, with the Senate President automatically serving as the ex officio chairman, "elected by each House on the basis of proportional representation from the political parties and parties or organizations registered under the party-list system.
