Published June 3, 2026 10:01pm + Add GMA on Google Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. Without physically appearing before the Senate session, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday declared the sine die adjournment of the upper chamber through a memorandum that was circulated to senators present at the plenary hall.Former Senate Secretary Jose Luis Montales distributed the document dated June 3 to senators who were present at the plenary hall during the last session day of Congress.“Pursuant to the Rules of the Senate and the approved Legislative Calendar, and in accordance with tradition, the Senate is in sine die adjournment and is scheduled to resume regular session at 10 a.m. on July 27, 2026,” the memorandum said.“During the adjournment period, Senate committees may continue to conduct hearings, meetings, consultations, and investigations in aid of legislation,” it added. Except for Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, no other member of the Cayetano-led bloc attended the plenary session, marking the third consecutive day the lawmakers skipped the proceedings.With Escudero in attendance, the 12 senators declared quorum and installed Senator Sherwin Gatchalian as the new acting Senate President and Senate President Pro-Tempore.They cited a Supreme Court ruling in arguing the legality of their quorum.They also clarified that the position of Senate President is now vacant as they failed to secure 13 votes to formally install Gatchalian as the new leader of the chamber.However, Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said Cayetano’s memorandum as “illegal and irregular.”“To be able to declare sine die adjournment, you have to pass a Senate and House Concurrent Resolution which is done in the plenary floor and approved by the body,” Zubiri said.“As well as we need to formally announce that we will inform the President of the Republic of the Philippines that both the Senate and the House of Representatives are both adjourning sine die, which we did earlier,” he said.Zubiri said: “We even have to create a committee that will inform the President, which we did to elect Senators JV Ejercito, Raffy Tulfo, and Kiko Pangilinan. That is the tradition of the Senate, the rules of the Senate, and that is the process that should be done. Not a mere letter from the Senate President.” — JMA, GMA News