THE FOILED BID to dethrone Senator Vicente Sotto III as Senate President would have saved Vice President Sara Duterte from an imminent ouster via impeachment, says former Senator Franklin Drilon.
Drilon made a categorical claim that there won’t be an impeachment trial had the minority succeeded in “installing” Senator Loren Legarda as Sotto’s replacement. According to reports, Legarda agreed Sotto’s offer.
By the majority members’ own admission, Legarda would assume the Senate Presidency before the 2028 election.
According to Drilon, who served as Senate President for an unprecedented four terms, the power struggle at the Senate looks more like a proxy war with no less than Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. calling the shots.
FEARLESS Forecast
“If Tito Sotto is replaced as Senate President and the new Senate President comes from the minority, the Senate trial will not push through. Based on what we’ve seen in the past few months, the impeachment proceedings in the Senate did not continue,” the former Senate President was quoted as saying during a radio interview.
“That, in my view, is what will happen if Senator Sotto is replaced by somebody from the camp of Duterte which is in the minority,” he added.
“Now, if Tito Sotto remains as Senate President, there’s a chance—assuming the House transmits the complaint to the Senate—that a trial will take place,” Drilon further averred.
NUMBERS MATTER
After the vice president was impeached on a majority vote decision in February last year, the House of Representatives immediately sent the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for trial.
However, an overwhelming number of senators voted to archive the impeachment complaint in August after the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.
Still, Sotto was one of four senators who voted against archiving the complaint, along with Senators Bam Aquino IV, Ana Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan.
The remaining nineteen senators voted in favor, including then-Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, while senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson abstained.
PREPARING FOR 2028
Drilon also expressed belief that the ouster moves against Sotto are related to the 2028 elections, predicting that efforts to unseat Sotto would further intensify as the 2028 national elections draw near.
“What do the Duterte-allied senators want? What decision would favor their candidate in 2028? Similarly, on the other side, Sotto and his allies will base their decision on what they perceive as needed for 2028,” Drilon noted.
Accordingly, most (if not all) of the minority senators are identified with the Vice President and her father — former President Rodrigigo Duterte, who is currently detained in The Hague over crimes against humanity related to the blood drug war during his incumbency.
UNMASKING SENATORS
Touted as Duterte allies in the Senate include Senators Ronald Dela Rosa, Robin Padilla, Imee Marcos, Bong Go and Rodante Marcoleta.
Padilla himself has repeatedly stood firm against the efforts to impeach the Vice President, warning it could trigger a change in leadership in the Upper House of Congress.
In ending Drilon cited that while Sotto claims to still have the support of the majority bloc, the lead over the nine minority senators is miniscule as one of the 15 members of the majority bloc — Pia Cayetano, who happens to be the sister of Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, a Duterte ally.
“So, assuming Alan is interested in becoming Senate President, Pia would shift to the minority to vote for her brother,” the former Senate President concluded.