President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said he was aware of the plan to remove Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri as Senate President.
In a media interview in Brunei, the President said he was informed by Senator Francis Escudero regarding his plan to take the post of Senate President.
“Senator Migz (Zubiri) has changed already, he has stepped down. So that’s the extent, that’s how… I was basically informed every step of the way but it moves so quickly as well,” Mr. Marcos said.
“But of course, we knew the state of the voting when that was still being collected by Senator Chiz (Escudero). We already know the numbers that will come out,” he added.
Zubiri was officially replaced as Senate President by Escudero on May 20.
Meanwhile, Marcos denied claims he was involved in the ouster of Zubiri, citing the decision was made by the Senate alone.
Marcos was also asked if he knew about Zubiri’s remark in his resignation speech that he was ousted for not following instructions from “the powers that be.”
“I guess if you are Senate President, the only power that be is the President. So, I am not sure what he is referring to, if there is a specific instance or just as a general principle. I don’t know, I have not spoken to him about it,” the President said.
“The last time I spoke to him, we talked about procurement, which did not come up. So, it’s hard for me to answer simply because I am not sure what he’s referring to because what instructions could that be that he didn’t finish. Yes, that’s still unclear to me what he’s referring to,” he added.
Zubiri, in his resignation speech, hinted that his ouster as Senate President was due to his failure to follow certain instructions from a higher power, which was rumored as someone within Malacañang.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Marcos ‘informed’ of plan to replace Zubiri, denies hand in ouster.”
