Negros Occidental 1st District Rep. Julio “Jules” Ledesma IV has urged local government units in his district to declare Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano persona non grata, escalating the political fallout from the Senate leadership dispute.
Ledesma made the call in a social media post, where he criticized Cayetano over his actions in the Senate and accused him of trivializing his role as a legislator. Reports quoted Ledesma as calling Cayetano a “disgrace to the Senate.”
“Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, you are a disgrace to the Senate and as a former member of the House, you’ve done this twice,” Ledesma said, according to reports.
Ledesma said he would ask LGUs in Negros Occidental’s 1st District to adopt resolutions declaring Cayetano unwelcome in the district.
“For trivializing your duty as a legislator, I will urge the LGUs of the 1st District of Negros Occ. to declare you persona non grata,” Ledesma said.
The statement came amid heightened tension in the Senate following a leadership standoff, session boycotts and competing claims over committee authority. Abogado reported that Ledesma’s remarks followed Cayetano and his allies’ boycott of Senate sessions, which led to a lack of quorum for two days before 12 senators later convened and declared all Senate positions vacant.
The controversy also unfolded as Cayetano’s bloc pushed ahead with proceedings linked to the alleged flood control scandal, despite questions over the authority of the activity under the Senate’s disputed leadership setup.
A persona non grata declaration is a symbolic action by a local government expressing that a person is unwelcome in its jurisdiction. It does not, by itself, carry the effect of an arrest order or a legal travel ban.
As of the latest available reports, Ledesma has announced his intent to seek persona non grata resolutions, but no confirmed LGU resolution from Negros Occidental’s 1st District has yet been reported.