SOTTO (Senate President FB)
Senator Erwin Tulfo cast doubt on attempts to oust Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III from his position in a bid to block moves to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.
“I don’t think so. I think they cannot muster enough votes for that,” Tulfo said in an ambush interview Monday, May, 4, when asked if there are coups against Sotto.
Senators who will sit as judges are now preparing for the possible transmittal of the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte from the House of Representatives.
Tulfo said there aren’t any rumors of coup, both from Duterte-aligned senators and from the majority, against Sotto to remove him from the leadership and the block the impeachment bid.
Tulfo also answered in the affirmative when asked if he was confident about the majority’s continued support for Sotto’s leadership.
“We have a lot of problems… Problema sa petrolyo, napakataas. Healthcare, mga tao hindi alam kung saan kukuha ng pambayad sa hospital. Pagkain, napakamahal. Salaries (This includes problems in oil, which is increasing; in health care, where people don’t know where to get money to pay; in prices of food, which are increasing; and salaries),” he said.
“Uunahin pa ba natin muna yung ika nga mga issues ng change of leadership. Why? Siguro dapat unahin natin, huwag natin unahin ang ating sarili, ang ating mga partido, yung interest ng mga yan. Dapat yung interes ng tao muna (Should we still prioritize issues of change of leadership? Why? For now, let’s not put priority on ourselves, on our political parties. Let’s put first the interest of the people),” he added.
Tulfo said senators might hold talks “maybe later or tomorrow” regarding the impeachment.