Migz Zubiri, who was visibly angry as the video played, decided to hit out at Marcos’ presentation from the recording, calling it a ‘horrible propaganda video’.
Another day, another political drama on the Senate floor, where proceedings replayed like a movie that divided the room.
During the privilege speech on Monday, May 25, Senator Imee Marcos played a nine-minute video emphasizing that the members of the minority camp were quietly supporting the measures to amend the Constitution.
Senators from the minority camp dismissed the presentation as a “conspiracy theory” video, saying it was baseless.
Marcos claimed that Tito Sotto’s camp wanted to increase the terms of incumbents, postpone the 2028 national elections, and increase the number of senators by creating a regionally divided Senate.
He also claimed that there were proposals to increase the minimum age requirement for presidential candidates to 50, supposedly to prevent Sara Duterte from running for president.
Marcos has repeatedly claimed that efforts to oust new Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano were linked to plans to push for constitutional reform.
Sotto denied these claims.
“Attitude change,” according to Sotto, is the only “Cha-Cha” the country needs, not a constitutional change.
Marcos claimed that Sotto, accompanied by former Senate secretary Mark “Dong” Mendoza, met in Solaire on April 22 with House Speaker Bojie Dy III to discuss constitutional amendments. Dy was allegedly with South Cotabato Representative Ferdinand Hernandez.
Mendoza denied claims that he is part of any effort to change the Constitution. “Meetings with co-workers, friends, and fellow public servants outside of official places should not be taken with malicious intent as an offense,” he said.
Sotto admitted to meeting Dy, who is also his golf buddy. Sotto, however, clarified that constitutional change was not part of the discussion.
The minority camp is pushing back
The presentation also immediately created a frenzy in the room.
Migz Zubiri, who appeared to be angry when the video was playing, decided to react to the presentation of Marcos from the recording, calling it a “horrible propaganda video.”
“We are becoming a circus because of the kind of language being pushed in this august hall. It is not a parliament,” Zubiri said.
Drawing from his decades in broadcast media, Raffy Tulfo also broke down the presentation, calling it an opinion piece, made up of “conspiracy theories” rather than hard evidence.
“That’s it” or fake, that’s how Tulfo described the video.
Tulfo lectured Marcos, saying that investigative submissions and biased speeches should be supported by verifiable evidence and actual testimony, not hearsay or fabricated narratives.
Senator Kiko Pangilinan, a member of the minority group and former chairman of the Senate constitution amendment committee, also denied that there has been any push for constitutional change under his watch.
Risa Hontiveros also reprimanded Marcos, saying, “giving a privileged speech is not the same as having the privilege of inserting false information into official records as if it were proof.”
“Has Philippine politics reached such a low point that we are going to throw mud here?” Hontiveros asked.
Senators Win Gatchalian and Bam Aquino also questioned the video shown by Marcos.
Ever since Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was appointed as Senate president, members of the majority camp – including Cayetano himself – have been claiming that the minority is pushing to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Rodante Marcoleta, a member of the majority camp, opposed the motion to delete Marcos’ presentation from the record.
Cayetano, acting as a mediator between the two camps, instead urged his ally Marcos to voluntarily remove the video presentation from the Senate record. Marcos agreed.
The Senate, in the last two weeks, has been controversial. As an action film, there was a the incident of the shooting of a senator to avoid an arrest warrant, and then the lock-up. The chamber also saw drama after the senator he cried due to the remarks of a fellow senator.
The Senate drama appears to be a real-life movie. What will be the next topic of the next Senate session? – Rappler.com
