Escudero ousted; Sotto new Senate president

Senator Tito Sotto III replaced Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero as the Senate President after securing 15 votes from fellow senators.

Escudero was replaced as Senate chief just 15 months after he unseated then Senate President Miguel "Migz" Zubiri in May 2024.

In his acceptance speech, Sotto thanked his fellow senators who reposed their trust and confidence in him and his capability to again lead the Senate.

"You have gifted me the honor of being your Senate President the second time around. To reiterate my statement from my previous election, I did not become your superior, I am simply a presider of your session," Sotto said.

"I am your listener, your adviser if you so desire, your enabler for anything within my power to do so. I am primus inter pares- first among equals," he added.

The senator also vowed to ensure that the Senate "will remain cooperative but independent, balanced, transparent, and sincere."

Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, meanwhile, was elected as the new Senate Pro Tempore, replacing Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

Zubiri took the place of Senator Joel Villanueva as the Senate Majority Leader.

The change is Senate leadership came amid the chamber's probe into the anomalous flood control projects.

Escudero has been linked to Lawrence Lubiano, the president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., one of his major campaign contributors in the 2022 Senate race.

Centerways Construction and Development Inc. was among the top 15 firms that secured 20 percent of the total of flood control projects across the country from July 2022 to May 2025, according to the publicized record by President Ferdinand R. Marcos.

Escudero, however, denied intervening in Lubiano's business and contracts with the government.