Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III for what he sees as a political double play — backing the House-led impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte despite the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling that it was unconstitutional, and now hinting at support for Charter change.
In a fiery post on X, Escudero ripped into Sotto for aligning himself with moves championed by Speaker Martin Romualdez and the House of Representatives.
“Easy lang po… kinampihan na nga po ninyo ang impeachment ng HOR at ni Speaker Martin maski sabi ng SC [na] unconstitutional, ngayon naman po kinakampihan na din niyo ang ChaCha ng HOR at ni Speaker Romualdez!?” Escudero fired.
He ended with the jab #TheSenateIsNotYourPlayground, repeating his warning that the upper chamber is not a tool for House members to hunt down political foes.
Sotto, unbothered, pushed back.
“What I said was, if the SC ruling stands as is and the Constitution is amended by merely [an] SC decision, then I will consider supporting a Constituent Assembly or a Constitutional Convention to rewrite Article XI of the Constitution because the requirements written in the SC decision are impossible to meet,” Sotto told reporters.
“Wala akong kinakampihan tulad nila. Ang kinakampihan ko ay ang Constitution,” he shot back.
The Senate voted 19-4-1 last Wednesday to bury the impeachment articles against Duterte in the archives, after the SC’s ruling that the process was unconstitutional.