Will Four-Way Test help Pia Cayetano feel less pressured as senator-judge?

PIA CAYETANO. Senator-judge Pia Cayetano at Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial on September 16, 2026.

Senate of the Philippines

An emotional Senator-judge Pia Cayetano tells the impeachment court's amici curiae — retired Supreme Court justices — that she 'genuinely didn't know what to do' as her fellow minority senators were being slapped with cases left and right

Senator-judge Pia Cayetano took the Senate impeachment court’s discussion on the 16-vote threshold in a slightly different direction on Wednesday, September 16, raising concerns about the “pressure” she said senator-judges are facing in the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

While her fellow senator-judges largely focused their questions on the constitutional and legal implications of the two-thirds voting requirement, Cayetano used her interjection to speak about what she described as threats to her liberty and her right to speak.

“I think my timing is best that I ask now was because the question was asked: Is there pressure on senator-judges that would basically have the effect of this threshold mechanism that is being changed, eh maaapektuhan ’yun (it will be affected),” Cayetano said.

The Senate impeachment court on Wednesday heard from retired Supreme Court justices — three of them former chief justices — serving as amici curiae or “friends of the court,” on whether the 16-vote threshold should be observed despite the absence of several senators at the trial.

Retired chief justices Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno and retired justice Adolfo Azcuna appeared before the court, while retired chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. submitted a memorandum. The four were asked to advise the court on the interpretation of the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds vote of “all the Members of the Senate.”

In her interjection, Cayetano underscored the circumstances of several senator-judges — minority senators Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada who are detained over separate plunder charges, and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who has been in hiding amid an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him.

Senator Loren Legarda is also on medical leave abroad.

In her case, Cayetano said she went to Singapore to “support a national team” only to learn that National Bureau of Immigration chief Melvin Matibag was supposedly “making statements that make it appear that I’m a common fugitive.”

“Na-monitor niya kung nasaan ako at meron siyang information kung anong araw ako babalik (He monitored where I am and he had information on the date of my return). Am I a fugitive?” said Cayetano.

“I will tell you all now. Am I pressured? I am. I am. I fear for my liberty. Even in the Senate, we have a colleague na walang katapusan, tantanan kami (who has been at us without end). I fear for my right to speak,” she added.

Matibag had talked about Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano’s Singapore trip and their date of return in response to reporters’ questions in a media interview. The NBI chief himself said in the same interview that he saw nothing wrong with the senator-siblings’ trip.

At the trial on Wednesday, Cayetano told Azcuna that she “genuinely [doesn’t] even know what to do” as her colleagues in the Senate minority had been slapped with cases left and right. She also shared that her staff, Monica Mitra, had been subpoenaed in connection with the investigation into the 2019 SEAGames cauldron.

“Hindi pa ho ba pressure ‘yun, Justice Azcuna?” she asked. (Is that not pressure, Justice Azcuna?)

Azcuna replied: “I think it’s not for me to judge the circumstances of that particular case. I can only reiterate the premise of my submission that the reason for the threshold is to protect the Senate from artificial and partisan moves to prevent justice from being done.”

He added: “I think perhaps we can apply the four-way test of the Rotary to your problem: Is it the truth? Is it fair? Is it beneficial to all concerned? Will it promote friendship and goodwill? I always use that test in problematic situations. So I think it will be a good place to apply it to your case.”

Cayetano smiled and said that she was aware of the Four-Way Test as her father — the late senator Renato Cayetano — was a Rotarian.

Did Azcuna’s advice ease some pressure that Cayetano felt? She eventually withdrew her question, admitting she had become emotional. “I withdraw my question. I did not mean to ask it that way. I’m very emotional about this issue. The question I meant to ask is exactly how you answered it,” she said.

Rotarians and non-rotarians alike will probably also counsel the good senator and tell her: if there is no wrongdoing whatsoever, there is nothing to fear or feel pressured about. – Rappler.com