The people have witnessed in recent weeks the jostling and power struggle among bureaucrat-capitalists in the Senate leadership. On one side is the group of Sen. Tito Sotto, which declared itself the “new majority” with 12 senators. On the other side is the group of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with 10 senators, down from 13. Cayetano had earlier positioned himself as Senate president through a coup against Sotto on May 11 when he brought out Sen. Ronaldo de la Rosa from a 6-month hiding to vote for him. The rush of de la Rosa back into hiding, the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada on plunder charges and the defection of Sen. Chiz Escudero reduced Cayetano’s majority.

Scrambling for leadership exposes how bureaucrat-capitalists are rushing to protect themselves and their respective factions. At the center is the push of Cayetano’s camp to delay and ultimately junk the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. It also seeks to block the adoption of the Blue Ribbon Committee report that named several senators in his camp as involved in corruption linked to flood control projects.

At the same time, Cayetano’s camp aggressively pushes hearings to target the role of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, along with his allies and officials, as being at the top of anomalies in flood control. Each camp is maneuvering to save itself from corruption cases, bribery, enrichment in office, and criminal liability.

Both camps are eyeing the 2028 elections which will expectedly intensify the clash between the Duterte faction represented by Cayetano and the Marcos camp, represented by Sotto together with senators of the Liberal Party and Akbayan.

National democratic groups launched a series of protests in the first week of June at the Senate to denounce its members’ defense of corrupt and criminal officials and their pursuit of self-serving interests. They are calling for truth, accountability, and justice.