In separate statements, alumni of SAMASA and Nagkakaisang Tugon — two UP Diliman political parties active during the student-leader years of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano — called on Cayetano to resign, while the Assumption Student Council backed a petition seeking the removal of Senator Loren Legarda’s portrait from the school’s Wall of Empowered Women.

The statements followed the May 11, 2026 Senate leadership change that unseated Senate President Vicente Sotto III and installed Cayetano as Senate President. The Assumption Student Council described the move as “widely recognized by journalists, political analysts, and public observers as a Senate coup.”

The leadership change happened as the Senate was preparing to receive the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, who is accused of grave misuse of public funds and betrayal of public trust. The Assumption councils said the timing “raised serious concerns that the move was politically engineered to delay or influence the proceedings.”

In their statement, alumni of SAMASA and Nagkakaisang Tugon said Cayetano “must resign as Senate President,” not because of ideology or partisan disagreement, but because of “a profound failure of judgment, leadership, and institutional responsibility during one of the most embarrassing episodes in recent Senate history.”

The group criticized Cayetano’s handling of the Senate’s decision to place Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa under Senate “protective custody,” saying the chamber’s leadership had assumed responsibility for him but failed to ensure accountability after he reportedly disappeared.

“The Senate leadership voluntarily assumed responsibility over Bato dela Rosa. Cayetano himself repeatedly invoked the Senate’s authority and institutional prerogatives in doing so. Yet despite that, Bato escaped,” the group said.

“That failure rests primarily and singularly on Alan Peter,” it added.

The alumni group said the issue goes beyond one senator or one night of confusion, warning that the Senate’s actions appeared to use institutional power to shield a political ally from legal accountability.

“You cannot invoke the Senate’s institutional powers to shield someone from arrest, insist that you are now responsible for his custody and safety, obstruct or delay lawful enforcement efforts, and then later shrug your shoulders when the person disappears,” the statement said.

“At that point, you are no longer defending institutions or the rule of law. You are actively undermining them,” it added.

The group warned that such actions deepen public cynicism, especially in a country where many already believe justice is applied differently to the powerful and the powerless.

“Every time institutions appear willing to bend rules for the powerful, Filipinos lose even more faith that the law applies equally to everyone,” the statement said. “Every spectacle like this deepens public cynicism and reinforces the belief that justice in this country depends less on truth or legality than on connections, influence, and political alliances.”

The statement was signed by 157 SAMASA-Nagkakaisang Tugon alumni, including former Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr., former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno, lawyer Adib Tamano, and other former student leaders, academics, advocates, professionals, and civil society figures.

The group said public office requires “maturity, restraint, competence, and respect for institutions larger than oneself,” adding that Cayetano should recognize the damage done to the Senate.

“He must — of his own accord or by force from his peers — resign,” the group said.

Meanwhile, the Assumption Student Council for school years 2025–2026 and 2026–2027 issued an official stance supporting the petition to remove Legarda’s portrait from Assumption College San Lorenzo’s Wall of Empowered Women.

The councils acknowledged Legarda’s past contributions but said her recent political actions “no longer reflect the values that Assumption upholds.”

Legarda, an Assumption alumna, voted for Cayetano as Senate President after Sotto had publicly stated that the impeachment trial would convene upon receipt of the Articles of Impeachment and be decided strictly on the merits of the case.

“No public office grants immunity from the standards of ethical conduct,” the councils said. “Any act that enables impunity and obstruction of justice, however subtle or procedural, diminishes public trust, and compromises the dignity of institutions that serve the Filipino people.”

The Assumption councils said the school forms leaders expected to act with integrity, social responsibility, and courage of conviction.

“Assumption College San Lorenzo forms leaders who are expected to act with integrity, exercise social responsibility, and uphold courage of conviction,” the statement said.

The councils called on the Assumption community to support the petition and urged Legarda to “clarity her actions, correct her course, and demonstrate renewed commitment to accountability and justice.”

“We express our earnest hope that Senator Legarda will confront this moment with integrity and a clear sense of duty,” they added. “It remains within her capacity to rebuild the trust of a community that once regarded her as an alumna of distinction. Now is the time to prove that such trust was not misplaced.”

The councils said the Wall of Empowered Women is an honor reserved for those who continue to embody the school’s ideals.

“The Council maintains that a place on this wall is an honor reserved for women who continuously embody Assumption’s ideals in action and character, and only those who do so will ever belong there,” the statement said.