Escudero, Sotto trade barbs over Cha-cha talks

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has called out Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III for saying that he would be in favor of amending the 1987 Constitution should the Supreme Court (SC) maintain its decision on the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte. 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Escudero questioned why Sotto would be supportive of a Charter change, which the Senate president said is being pushed by the House of Representatives led by Speaker Martin Romualdez. 

“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 asked. 

(Take it easy. You already supported the impeachment pushed by the House and Speaker Martin even if the SC said it was unconstitutional. Now, you also want to support the Cha-cha pushed by the HOR and Speaker Romualdez?!)

Escudero ended his post with a hashtag “the Senate is not your playground,” reiterating his statement when he voted in favor of archiving the articles of impeachment against Duterte that the Senate is not the playground of House members to run after their political enemies.

Sotto, in response, explained that he would only be supportive of Cha-cha if the SC would maintain its decision to junk the impeachment case against Duterte despite the motions of reconsideration filed with the high court. 

“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 is impossible to meet,” Sotto told reporters. 

“Wala akong kinakampihan tulad nila. Ang kinakampihan ko ay ang Constitution,” he added.

(I am not in favor of anybody unlike them. I am siding with the Constitution.)

Article XI Section 3(4) of the 1987 Constitution states that: “In case the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all the Members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”  

When the SC released its decision on the impeachment case, it said that the articles of impeachment are barred by the one-year rule under Article XI Section 3 paragraph 5 of the Constitution. 

The high court also found that the articles violated Duterte’s right to due process.

The SC, however, emphasized that it is not absolving Duterte from any of the charges against her, but any subsequent impeachment complaint may only be filed starting February 6, 2026.

The House of Representatives, through the Office of the Solicitor General, earlier filed a motion for reconsideration, seeking to reverse the SC decision. The House argued that it should be allowed to perform its exclusive duty to prosecute an impeachable official, and the Senate to try the case.

Other motions for reconsideration have also been filed with the SC against its ruling. 

Last Wednesday, the Senate voted 19-4-1 to transfer to the archives the articles of impeachment against Duterte, following the decision of the SC to declare her impeachment unconstitutional. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News