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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Wala kong kinakampihan': Sotto fires back at Escudero over Cha-Cha remark

'Wala kong kinakampihan': Sotto fires back at Escudero over Cha-Cha remark

Published Aug 11, 2025 03:21 pm
"Wala kong kinakampihan tulad nila (I don’t take sides like they do)."
Senate President Francis
Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero and Senate Minority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III (Senate PRIB photo)
This was Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III's response as he clapped back at Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s jab on social media, clarifying his position on Charter Change and defending himself from accusations of siding with the House of Representatives.
Escudero, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), told Sotto to “take it easy,” accusing him of aligning with the House-led impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte despite a Supreme Court ruling that deemed it unconstitutional.
In the post, he said that Sotto is allegedly siding again with the Lower Chamber and Speaker Martin Romualdez on Charter Change.
“Easy lang po… kinampihan na nga po ninyo ang impeachment ng HOR at ni Speaker Martin maski sabi ng SC UNCONSTITUTIONAL… ngayon naman po kinakampihan na din nyo ang ChaCha ng HOR at ni Speaker Romualdez!?!?” Escudero posted, quoting Sotto's interview with the Philippine Star.
Sotto, however, denied siding with the House bloc, explaining his intentions.
“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,” Sotto explained, pointing out that the requirements laid down in the SC decision are “impossible to meet.”
“Wala akong kinakampihan tulad nila. Ang kinakampihan ko ay ang Konstitusyon (I’m not taking sides like they are. The side I’m on is the Constitution),” Sotto added.
Voting 19-4-1, the Senate moved to archive the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.
During plenary deliberation, Sotto moved to table Senator Rodante Marcoleta's motion to dismiss Duterte's impeachment complaint, but this was rejected with only five affirmative votes and 19 negative votes, prompting them to vote on the amended motion.
In his explanation of vote, Sotto said that the SC decision is pending appeal, stating that it is more prudent to wait for the result rather than "prematurely archiving if not dismissing". He said that he knows for a fact that once it is archived, it is dead.

Related Tags

Tito Sotto impeachment Chiz Escudero Vice President Sara Duterte House of Representatives Martin Romualdez
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