Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero dismissed what he called “unfair accusations” that the change of leadership in the chamber was pushed with the influence of outside forces.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Escudero said that the lack of confidence in the previous leadership was among the reasons for the Senate shake-up.
He lamented that each senator has individual reasons why they chose to lean on a change of leadership in the chamber.
“Whatever reasons are behind that, it’s their individual decision but I can only answer about the accusations or allegations now,” he added.
Several reasons came out, including the interference of Malacañang, that led to the ouster of former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, which Escudero denied in the first place.
“That is an unfair accusation to say the least because when he (Zubiri) won in 2022, no one accused him and we stood by the flag of the Congress and said: this is the decision of the Senate,” Escudero lamented.
He pressed that the change of leadership duly went through a voting process.
“Malacañang has no vote against 24 votes that the Senate has to elect anyone as Senate president,” he added.
Escudero stressed that a lack of confidence would shake up a leadership.
“The one and only reason, not only now but in very change of senate leadership, is the absence or the lack of confidence,” he said.
Meanwhile, Escudero admitted that the ongoing talks on cha-cha in the chamber pushed him to sign a resolution on Zubiri’s ouster.
“Personally, my reason is about the handling cha-cha, I’m not in favor of the continuing discussion on RHB 6 and 7 and bringing it to the point that there’s a need to vote because the Senate will surely lose,” he said.
‘Solid 7’ joining minority?
In a message to reporters on Tuesday, Senator JV Ejercito said he expects Escudero to communicate with the “Solid 7” — referring to Senators Joel Villanueva, Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian, Loren Legarda, Zubiri, and himself — “once emotions have cooled off.”
“But probably after emotions have cooled off and after we have decided which direction to take, whether we remain as an independent bloc or join the minority in the Senate,” he said.
Ejercito said the “Solid 7” remains to be a “formidable bloc in the Senate.”
After he resigned from his post as Senate president, Zubiri said he “failed to follow instructions from the powers that be” which may have led to his ouster in the chamber.
Zubiri’s allies resigned in their respective post, Ejercito as deputy majority leader, Villanueva as majority leader, and Legarda as Senate pro-tempore.
While Binay and Angara also resigned as chairpersons of their respective Senate committees.
In a separate interview in Valenzuela City on Tuesday, Villanueva lamented the pain of what had happened last week in the Senate was still fresh.
Escudero stressed that a lack of confidence would shake up a leadership.
“It still hurts because we walked the extra mile and we were burning literally midnight oils in working very hard. You, more than anyone, the Senate media would know very well who were the ones who were working overtime, who were always working in the Senate. And yet, that’s still what happened,” Villanueva said.
He said at least three of the “Solid 7” are now considering the minority bloc — which is composed of Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Risa Hontiveros.
Asked to comment about Escudero’s plan to talk with them, Villanueva replied. “Definitely, we’re open to that because at the end of the day, our only desire is to serve our fellow countrymen the best we can and that’s also the reason why we’re thinking that if we can become a minority in the Senate.”
Villanueva said they are open to communicating with Escudero but there’s still a need to “let go” of their emotions.”
“Maybe we can lead the minority in the Senate because it can also be the key for us to become more effective as fiscalizers. So these are all available options for us and the communication lines are not lost, especially with SP Chiz,” he said.
