Lacson blasts critics linking Legarda in coup plot vs Sotto

Senate President Pro Tempore Ping Lacson on Tuesday slammed unnamed critics who are allegedly framing Senator Loren Legarda as being responsible for an alleged coup plot against Senate President Tito Sotto.

Lacson claimed that Legarda was lured into an attempt to snatch the Senate presidency from Sotto amid speculation of “dissatisfaction” with his leadership. When those efforts failed, he said, the narrative was twisted to make it appear that Legarda had volunteered to help gather support to oust Sotto.

“After dangling the Senate presidency to her, they are now floating the falsehood that it was Sen. Loren who volunteered to recruit warm bodies to pave the way for a new Senate majority. It is not only malicious; it is sadistic,” he wrote on X.

Lacson, a known close ally of Sotto, also blasted threats of a looming coup as a “continuing crime,” with other majority senators questioning its feasibility.

Legarda is part of the majority bloc under Sotto. In September, she voted to oust then–Senate president Chiz Escudero in favor of Sotto, who had just returned to the chamber following a comeback in the May 2025 elections.

Sotto, on Monday, downplayed murmurs of a coup, saying his colleagues in the majority had given him assurances of their continued support. The Senate leader also expressed confidence that a loyalty check was “unnecessary.”

Nonetheless, he added that if such a move were to happen, it could stem from his “strictness” in budget management, particularly on “insertions.” He also cited the sudden change in leadership of the foreign relations committee, which was recently taken from opposition Senator Imee Marcos and handed to Senator Erwin Tulfo, as another possible factor.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano explicitly said that “it was never a secret” for the opposition to try to reclaim the majority from the current leadership, though he added that they still do not have the 13 votes needed to do so.

The minority would need 13 votes to remove Sotto as Senate chief. At present, there are nine members in the opposition bloc. However, their numbers could drop by one due to the continued absence of Senator Bato de la Rosa, who has been away since November following reports of an alleged warrant from the International Criminal Court.