President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said he already knew about the attempt to remove Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri as Senate President after Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero expressed his intention to lead the Upper House.
In an interview with the Philippine media delegation in Brunei, Marcos said he had been informed about "every step" of the Senate shake-up but clarified that he was not directly involved in any discussions regarding the change.
"The minute they started... actually, 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," Marcos added.
Upon his return to Manila later that day, Marcos learned that the change had already taken place.
Meanwhile, Marcos claimed he was unaware of any specific directive that Zubiri allegedly failed to follow, which led to his resignation as the Senate President.
Marcos stated that he is unsure of the instructions to which Zubiri was referring when he mentioned failing to follow directives "from the powers that be."
He also speculated that Zubiri might be referring to the President, but he emphasized that he was not aware of the specific instruction the senator was alluding to.
“I guess if you are Senate President, the only power that be is the President. So, I am not sure what he is referring to, if there is 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’s referring to because what instructions could that be that he didn’t finish? Yes, that’s still unclear to me what he’s referring to,” Marcos added.
In his resignation speech, Zubiri suggested that his removal as Senate President was a result of his inability to comply with certain directives from a higher authority, which was rumored to be someone within Malacañang.
When asked about his confidence in Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri, the previous Senate President, Marcos said: "Sure, of course."
"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 on Senator Migz and the trust and confidence that I have given him," Marcos added.