Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada on Monday, September 23, denied rumors he is replacing Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero as head of the Upper Chamber.
Estrada said as far as he is concerned, he is comfortable with the present Senate leadership.
“Anumang haka-haka na lumalabas na ako raw ang papalit bilang Senate President, hindi po totoo yan. Wala po akong balak. Nagtataka ako at nagugulat ako dito sa mga kumakalat ng mga usap-usapan na papalitan na raw ang ating Senate President. Wala pong katotohanan (Any speculation that iappears that I will take over as Senate President, that's not true. I have no plans. I am surprised and surprised by those who are spreading rumors that our Senate President is about to be replaced. There is no truth to that),” Estrada said in a press conference at the Senate.
Estrada said he doesn’t know where the rumors emanated. He also denied that some of his colleagues were pushing him.
“Walang kumakausap sa kin, walang lumalapit sa akin (No one approached me, no one talked to me about it),” he reiterated.
“I am supportive of the leadership of Senate President Escudero. And he’s doing a good job,” he further said.
When asked if there were indeed attempts to stage a coup against Escudero weeks ago, the Senate president pro tempore answered in the affirmative, but clarified that it was not him.
The Senate Pro Tempore also said it wouldn’t be healthy for the Senate to constantly have changes in leadership.
“Siempre hindi dahil maantala naman yung mga legislative agenda natin (Of course, it won’t be good, because it will delay our legislative agenda).
“Well, in fairness to the Senate President, marami tayo na ipasa bago tayong mag-adjourn itong (We were able to pass a lot of measures before we adjourn this) week. Halos lahat ng mga legislative agenda ng administration ay naipasa naman natin lahat (Almost all of the legislative agenda of the administration were passed into law),” he pointed out.