Chiz Escudero. Out as Senate president. Named in affidavits. Frantic, insisting this is all Martin Romualdez’s doing.

He drags Sara Duterte into it. Suddenly, the veep is part of the scene, as if her inevitability in 2028 could scrub him clean. Not a chance.

Weeks ago, Chiz wielded the Senate gavel. Now his name surfaces in sworn testimonies about ghost projects and phantom commissions. The tactician unravels, casting blame, scattering it.

By declaring “Lalabanan ko siya [Romualdez],” Escudero reduces a sprawling corruption scandal into a duel. Not Congress rot or DPWH kickbacks. Not systemic plunder. It’s Chiz versus Martin. Hero versus villain.

This is how a drowning man insists he’s still swimming. Chiz knows that once the fight looks binary, the audience stops parsing testimonies and starts picking sides.

He calls Romualdez “The Untouchable.” The cousin. Power broker. First Lady’s shadow. Naming him won’t humble Romualdez but inflate the senator, borrowing reflected authority from a man whose orbit he can never claim.

If Romualdez is after Sara, and Chiz is defending her, presto, every blow at Chiz is a blow at her, piggybacking on the feral reflex of the DDS lynch mob that doesn’t need as much proof as fury.

And by accusing Chiz of a “DDS script,” Romualdez ironically handed him the stage to perform. And he performs. And now Chiz looks like he’s one of them.

But scripts are rehearsed, and Escudero is improvising for his life.

Escudero is to Sara as Harry Roque is to Rodrigo. Both play loyalists, but it’s the loyalty of has-beens with no leverage. Every Chiz defense of Sara doubles as a future debt: “Remember when I stood up for you?”

The irony is that Sara doesn’t need Chiz. And by dragging his baggage beside hers (both were flagged by Comelec for potentially illegal campaign contributions), he amplifies the very problem she already carries. Comelec is summoning Escudero next week to explain.

Sara commands Visayas and Mindanao; Chiz can’t even lock down his old province. She gains nothing strategically from him. He gains everything from basking in her fire. She had once let barnacles hitch a ride to Malacañang.

Escudero pretends this is Senate versus House, that “everyone did it,” that Romualdez is destabilizing institutions. Implicating the institution subtly pressures fellow senators not to push too hard, “If I go down, you’re next,” creating a soft alliance with other “sinners” in the chamber.

Chiz versus Martin. Senate versus House. Vice President Chiz. Sara’s supposed “kingmaker.”

Sara Duterte will rise or fall on her own strength. And Chiz Escudero, well, he has already fallen.