Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano has been trying to flex his legal credentials lately, but it doesn’t seem to be working to his advantage.
“Sabi ni [former] Sen. Joker Arroyo, ‘It is useless to argue a legal point with a non-lawyer,’” Cayetano said as he took the floor during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Monday, July 20.
The remark was made after Sen. Robin Padilla, during his manifestation in the impeachment trial, raised a concern about the Office of the Ombudsman accusing him of not submitting his counter-affidavit for the obstruction of justice case filed against him. Sen. Erwin Tulfo then told Padilla and the other senator-judges to refrain from making statements unrelated to the impeachment case while the trial was ongoing, which prompted Cayetano to speak.
The ex-Senate president argued that Padilla’s concern is a matter of the integrity of the impeachment court and lamented his colleagues’ not understanding his “legal point.”
In response, Senator-judge Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said, “I do not have four years of law [school], but I have 29 years of law-making.” He then moved to refer Padilla, Tulfo, and Cayetano’s manifestations to the Senate proper instead of the impeachment court.
During the impeachment trial on July 15, Cayetano also expressed his disappointment that there are only a few lawyers in the Senate and impeachment court. “Nahihirapan po ako, wala si Sen. [Rodante] Marcoleta e. Iilan lang po kaming abogado dito,” he said, before naming Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Pia Cayetano, as well as Sen. Imee Marcos, whose supposed law degree from the University of the Philippines (UP) is disputed.
When the trial started on July 6, Cayetano also pointed out that he had graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law.
There may be merit to Cayetano wanting colleagues with backgrounds in law. “If there’s an engineer here — or a doctor, and they talk about medical principles, I have to study and understand to argue on medical principles,” he said on Monday. “Hindi ko pwedeng sabihin, ‘Hindi, ganito lang ‘yan, logic lang ‘yan, etc.’”
But Cayetano’s argument falls apart when you remember that many other senators in his camp don’t have law degrees either. Padilla was given his criminology degree in June 2022, a month after he won a Senate seat in the national elections. Sen. Loren Legarda was a broadcast communications student, while Sen. Bong Go took up marketing. And in 2019, then-University of the Philippines (UP) Executive Vice President Teodoro Herbosa said, “There is no record of [Imee Marcos’] graduation from UP Diliman, nor any honors or academic distinctions received with the University Registrar’s office.”
Frequently Asked Questions
During Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano quoted former Sen. Joker Arroyo, saying, “It is useless to argue a legal point with a non-lawyer.” He argued that some of his colleagues were failing to understand his legal arguments because they lacked formal legal training.
Cayetano spoke after Sen. Robin Padilla raised a concern about an Office of the Ombudsman case against him during the impeachment proceedings. When Sen. Erwin Tulfo said the discussion was unrelated to the trial, Cayetano defended Padilla’s remarks as a matter affecting the integrity of the impeachment court.
Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III responded by saying that while he did not attend law school, he had spent 29 years making laws as a legislator. He then moved to refer the senators’ manifestations to the Senate proper instead of the impeachment court.
No, the 1987 Philippine Constitution does not require senators to have a law degree. To qualify for the Senate, a person must be a natural-born Filipino citizen, at least 35 years old on election day, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for at least two years immediately preceding the election.
Robin Padilla is facing an obstruction of justice complaint over allegations that he helped Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa evade authorities following the Senate shootout in May. During Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Padilla raised the case in his manifestation, saying the Office of the Ombudsman had accused him of failing to submit his counter-affidavit.
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