Senate counter-coup? Imee says new minority wants to ‘stay alive’

Senator Imee Marcos said Monday there are no talks within the new nine-member Senate minority bloc about a supposed another change of leadership in the upper chamber. 

Marcos said the new minority bloc, which she is a member of, has not brought up any dissatisfaction concerns regarding the leadership of Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III as the shakeup only just happened last week. 

“Hindi, wala. Walang pinag-uusapan na gano’n. Ang pinag-uusapan lang namin is staying alive,” the lady senator said. 

(There’s nothing like that. The minority bloc is not talking about such. What we’re only discussing is staying alive.) 

“Kung merong gano'n, ‘yung unang coup na naging minority na nga kami, hindi ko alam. Ito kung magku-coup na ulit, hindi ko na naman alam. Ang babaeng clueless ang title ko,” she added. 

(If there is indeed such a plan, I don’t know about it as I also didn’t know about the first coup which resulted in us being in minority. I am clueless.) 

Last Monday, Sotto replaced Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero as Senate President after the position was declared vacant during the plenary session. 

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on Sunday refuted that there will be another leadership change at the Senate, describing the claim as “malevolent, underhanded, foul, and desperate.”

Asked for her thoughts regarding Lacson’s advice that the new minority bloc should not be underestimated because of its numbers, Marcos said, “Kanya kanyang level ng kapraningan (We have different levels of paranoia).”

She also said that she may no longer chair any committees, including the Foreign Relations panel, now that she is in the minority bloc. 

“Hindi naman ako kapit-tuko sa posisyon. Okay lang ‘yun (That’s okay because I’m not a sucker for positions),” Marcos explained. —AOL, GMA Integrated News