The Senate won’t be a rubber stamp of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration even under his watch, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on Thursday, May 23.
Escudero made the assurance a few days after the changes in the Senate leadership took effect and he was chosen as the new Senate chief and replaced Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri.
“Kung standard na question iyan sa kada Senate President, sasagutin ko: hindi, at wala kaming planong gawin at mangyari yun (If that is the standard question to every senator who becomes the Senate President, my reply is: no, and we have no plans to do that nor will that happen),” Escudero said during the Kapihan sa Senado forum.
The newly-installed Senate leader assured that the Senate will continue to live up to its role and place as the “last bastion of democracy.”
“Wala akong nakikitang dahilan bakit hindi. Marami akong naririnig na mga salita kaugnay sa bagay na iyan nitong nagdaang mga araw. Pilit kong pinapalagpas dahil sa palagay at tingin ko, bugso lamang ng damdamin iyon dala ng biglang pagbabago, kaganapan at pangyayari nitong mga nagdaang araw (I don’t see any reason why it would change. I’ve heard a lot about such speeculations in the past few days. I tried to shrug it off because, I think it was because emotions are high due to the sudden changes, events and happenings in the past few days),” Escudero added.
Asked what his leadership style would be, Escudero said he never really considered what to call his kind of leadership as he considers himself as a “bridge” for his colleagues.
“Ang trabaho para sa akin ng bawat leader ay maitulay at maitawid ang mga pananaw, opinion at pangangailangan (The job of each leader is to serve as a bridge to get the views, opinions and needs of the other across),” he pointed out.
Also under his watch, Escudero said the Senate will do away with measures that would not get approved. However, he could not say anything about the new leadership’s priority measures, pending assessment by his office.
The lawmaker said he has never been part of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), the consultative and advisory body to the President that tackles specific programs and policies essential to the administration’s goals.
“Kung may priority measure na hindi naman papasa sa Senado, hindi na namin pag aaksayahan ng panahon at sasabihin namin sa Malacañang. Sayang lang naman ang igugugol na oras din eh (If there are priority measures that won’t pass in the Senate, we will not waste our time on them and we will tell Malacañang about it. We will just waste time for that),” said Escudero.
With his 14 years of experience as a lawmaker, the new Senate chief said he is already knowledgeable about whether a bill would conveniently pass Congress.
Asked if this includes the measures that push for changes in the 1987 Constitution or those that push for Charter change, Escudero said: “It’s possible.”