Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Friday dismissed claims that Senator Imee Marcos lost her chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because she did not sign a resolution condemning the Chinese Embassy.
Sotto explained that the decision was based on internal Senate considerations, stressing that the majority bloc agreed a key panel like foreign relations should be led by one of its members.
“When the majority met, a major committee like foreign relations, should be chaired by a member of the majority,” he said in an online interview.
Marcos, along with other allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte, had earlier drawn attention for not signing the resolution against the embassy’s remarks on Philippine officials critical of Beijing’s actions in the West Philippine Sea.
Sotto said the leadership initially kept Marcos in the post to preserve unity.
“Nung una hindi namin ginalaw yun, thinking later on, pwede naman kami magkasama-sama,” he noted.
But concerns over pending international agreements eventually led to the reassignment.
He added that Senator Erwin Tulfo had long expressed interest in the role.
“Nag-uusap-usap kami ni Sen. Erwin Tulfo who was already very interested in that,” Sotto said.
“Hindi lang namin ginalaw muna kay Sen. Marcos thinking she might opt to jive with the majority as far as issue of foreign relations is concerned,” he added.
Despite the reshuffle, Sotto emphasized that the Senate leadership remains independent.
“Ako naman, ang leadership naman namin ay always independent Senate. We are cooperative but critical if necessary,” he said.