 |
| Sen. Tito Sotto III takes his oath of office before his predecessor, Sen. Chiz Escudero |
The Senate today elected former Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III is its new president, replacing Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero and reopening the possibility that the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte could finally start.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson was later elected Senate President Pro
Tempore replacing Jinggoy Estrada, while Zubiri replaced Sen. Joel Villanueva as majority
leader.
The change in leadership, sealed when Escudero himself swore
Sotto into office, is also expected to result in changes in the chairmanship of
several key committees, such as the Blue Ribbon Committee now led by Sen. Rodante
Marcoleta, who may be replaced by Sen. Lacson
 |
| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The Senate coup came right after the plenary session began,
with Escudero presiding.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri moved to declare the position of
Senate president vacant and, after Escudero asked Senate President Pro Tempore
Jinggoy Estrada to preside over the session, nominated Sotto as Senate
president. Sen. Loren Legarda seconded his motion.
“There being no other nominees for the position, Sen.
Vicente Sotto, the only nominee for the position of the Senate president is
hereby declared as the newly elected president of the Senate,” Estrada declared.
Sotto said his election was a result of Senators Zubiri,
Lacson, Hontiveros and Loren Legarda urging fellow senators to support him.
They were said to have won the votes of at least 11 more colleagues.
 |
| Basahin ang detalye! |
Escudero’s hold was weakened mainly by his decision to start –
forthwith, as required by the Constitution -- the impeachment trial of
Duterte, after the vice president was impeached by a majority vote in the House
of Representatives.
After the Supreme Court later declared the impeachment unconstitutional,
Sotto led an effort by the then minority bloc in the Senate to keep it alive.
The Senate voted 19-4 with one abstention, to archive it as proposed by Sotto,
instead of dismissing it outright as proposed by Marcoleta.
Escudero was also dragged into the flood control projects
mess, after he confirmed that he received $30 million in illegal campaign donation
in 2022 from Lawrence Lubiano, the owner of Centerways Construction and
Development Inc., one of the 15 contractors named by President Ferdinand Marcos
Jr. as having cornered 25 per cent of flood control works.
He was also accused of making insertions in the 2025 budget that poured billions of pesos in government projects into his home province of Sorsogon, along with the bailiwicks of his allies in the Senate.
Earlier, in the same plenary hall, the Senate Blue Ribbon
committee hearing saw the biggest flood control contractors, the couple Curlee
and Sarah Discaya, identify the congressmen, Department of Public Works and Highways
officials and others they claimed had demanded bribes from them in return for
getting flood control contracts.
