Political betrayal is a twice-told tale that isn’t shocking. It’s even Shakespearean, as the Roman Marc Antony sarcastically repeatedly described Roman senator Brutus: “Brutus is an honorable man.”

So, to quickly disabuse you, what transpired recently at the Senate wasn’t about political betrayal, despite some drama depicting supposedly despicable dishonorable moves.

Instead, what went down was still politics as usual in this sad republic of ours.

No wonder former Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri readily forgot his Shakespeare, managing only to blurt out that he was “dumbfounded” on learning that weeping Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa had signed the resolution to oust him.

Excusing himself, Dela Rosa said his vote was “insignificant” in the face of the bare fact that Zubiri’s ouster was a done deal when a party mate urged him to sign the resolution. Which only meant that Dela Rosa had belatedly realized he had to put a premium on his political survival over his close friendship.

A testy Zubiri, however, insisted he lost his post after defending Dela Rosa’s committee hearings on allegations of President Marcos Jr.’s alleged drug use.

The Dela Rosa hearings, of course, did cause displeasure to the Palace. So much so that President Marcos Jr. himself strongly condemned a so-called witness as a “serial liar.”

But what Zubiri conveniently forgot was the fact that Dela Rosa’s committee investigation was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Which in this case was Malacañang’s dwindling confidence in Zubiri’s ability to get things done over at the Senate.

In fact, Zubiri’s troubles with the powers-that-be had more to do with the Senate dancing the cha-cha (Charter change) than anything else political like the minor Dela Rosa irritant.

Zubiri, you see, earlier reportedly assured the powers-that-be the Senate would act quickly on whatever cha-cha plans the Marcos administration had, especially on the planned revisions to the economic provisions of the Constitution.

But, to his dismay, Zubiri couldn’t convince his increasingly skeptical fellow senators that dancing the cha-cha was in the Senate’s best political interest.

A Senate source even agreed with the bare conjecture that Zubiri was entirely clueless about the real implications of the Senate’s existence of the House’s quick approval of cha-cha.

As such, recalcitrant senators forced Zubiri to backtrack on his assurances to the powers-that-be, which in effect gave new meaning to Zubiri’s defensive quip that he didn’t “follow instructions.”

As this was happening, the former Senate leader also reportedly faced mounting resentment from his fellow senators, particularly for his reportedly preferential treatment of the so-called seven-member “seatmate bloc” who all chaired plum Senate posts and who stood by him until the end.

Meanwhile, senators seeking reelection next year had no recourse but do Zubiri in.

A Senate observer said it was obvious the reelectionist senators, with the forthcoming midterms firmly on their minds, could not do anything but directly or indirectly pay heed to the incumbent President.

This is so since in Philippine politics the incumbent President holds in his hands the ambitions and fortunes of any reelectionist or senatorial wannabe in a midterm election.

Given the prevailing political mood during Zubiri’s watch immediately prior to his resignation, any astute politician worth his salt would have handily noticed it and then made use of it.

That astute politician turned out to be a political veteran and anti-cha-cha Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

Escudero has since admitted that he instigated the change in the Senate leadership after he quietly gauged the political mood of his fellow senators last week.

Escudero’s timing was so exquisite that the Palace seemed to have no choice but to approve him, despite Escudero's pronounced independent stance.

Anyway, all this, including whatever true personal motives the senators who voted to oust Zubiri had, will of course be subjected to more intriguing details and political implications yet to come that hopefully will give us a clearer picture of what really went down at the Senate last week. Abangan.