While admitting that he was in the loop, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. claimed that he did not influence the change in the Senate leadership, which he said was entirely the idea of new Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

The President on Wednesday said he learned about the move to unseat then Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri after Escudero “expressed his intention to lead the upper house.”

In an interview in Brunei, Marcos said he had been informed about the Senate shakeup “every step” of the way but clarified that he was not directly involved in any discussions regarding the change.

“It was Senator Chiz, the minute he started thinking about it, he brought it up,” Marcos said.

“I did not speak to any parties at any point simply because I was out of town,” he added.

On his return to Manila later that day, Marcos said he learned the change had already taken place.

“The decision to change the leadership was not made by me. It was made by the Senate. So that does not reflect on my view of Senator Migz and the trust and confidence that I had given him,” Marcos said.

Marcos claimed he was unaware of any specific directive that Zubiri said he failed to follow which led to his ouster.

He said he was unsure of what instructions Zubiri was referring to when he said that among the factors for his downfall was “failing to follow directives from the powers that be.”

Marcos speculated that Zubiri might have been referring to him, as President, but he emphasized that he was not aware of any specific instruction given to the senator.

“I guess if you are Senate President, the only power (that is higher would be) the President. So I am not sure what he is referring to, if there was a specific instance or just a general principle. I don’t know, I have not spoken to him about it,” Marcos said.

“The last time I spoke to him, we talked about procurement, which did not come up. So, it’s hard for me to answer simply because I am not sure what he was referring to, what instructions could that be that he didn’t finish? Yes, that’s still unclear to me what he was referring to,” Marcos said.

In his resignation speech, Zubiri suggested that his removal was an offshoot of his failure to comply with certain directives from a higher authority, which was rumored to be someone in Malacañang.

When asked if he still had confidence in Zubiri, Marcos said, “Sure, of course.”