The UP Broadcasting Association on Tuesday evening issued a public challenge to Senator Loren Legarda—an alumna and former student leader of the organization—over her decision to join the newly formed Senate majority bloc following the May 11 leadership takeover that installed Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate President and elected her Senate President Pro Tempore, the second-highest position in the chamber.
“These abrupt political realignments expose how easily loyalties within the Philippine government bend in service of political survival, convenience, and elite bargaining,” the association said in its statement, noting that Legarda joined the new majority alongside Senators Pia Cayetano, Mark Villar, and Camille Villar.
The group expressed alarm that the Senate reorganization came at a decisive moment, as the chamber prepares to receive the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte over allegations of grave misuse of public funds and betrayal of public trust.
“With Alan Peter Cayetano—a known Duterte ally—now presiding over the Senate, legitimate fears emerge that the chamber is being reorganized to weaken, delay, or derail the impeachment process altogether,” the association said.
The statement also took aim at Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who the group said resurfaced after months of evading public scrutiny surrounding the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him to participate in the vote that secured Cayetano’s rise to Senate leadership.
“This spectacle reveals a political system increasingly governed not by democratic accountability or public service, but by opportunism, dynastic preservation, and impunity,” the association said.
Turning directly to Legarda, the association said her political choices now stand in contradiction with the principles she once upheld as a student leader.
“Her political choices now stand in contradiction with the principles of accountability, public service, and democratic responsibility that UP students are taught to uphold. At a time when institutions are being reorganized to shield the powerful from scrutiny and consequence, neutrality disguised as pragmatism only deepens public distrust,” the group said.
The association issued a direct challenge to the senator: “We challenge Sen. Legarda to reflect on the values she once claimed to stand for and to ensure that the Senate does not become a sanctuary for impunity nor a bargaining table for political dynasties seeking to preserve power,” it said.
“The Filipino people deserve institutions that act independently and officials willing to place democratic duty above political accommodation,” the association added.
As a media and journalism organization, the group also called for full and unrestricted media access to Senate proceedings and all deliberations related to the impeachment process.
“The public has the right to scrutinize institutions funded by public money and entrusted with public power. Any attempt to obscure negotiations, restrict coverage, or weaken public access only further erodes trust in democratic institutions,” the association said.
The group closed with a warning to those in positions of power: “History will remember not only those who held power, but those who chose to uphold accountability when democratic institutions were placed under trial.”
