By Atty. Julius Gregory B. Delgado
Recent Change of Senate Leadership: Déjà vu of the 1963 Senate Presidency Election
This past week, we witnessed a dramatic change of leadership of the Senate when the gentleman from Sorsogon, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, wrested Senate Presidency from Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri of Bukidnon. With 15 Senators voting to oust Zubiri, Escudero was sworn in as the new President of the Philippine Senate. What surprised Sen. Zubiri, as he said he is “dumbfounded” aside from being “heartbroken”, was that his supposed ally, Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who cried when he delivered his resignation speech, turned out to also have voted to oust him from the third highest post in the land. Zubiri later alleged that the reason of his demise was the ongoing PDEA leaks investigation linking the President from purported substance abuse which investigation Sen. Dela Rosa spearheaded.
The drama in the Senate leadership brings back a drama in the Philippine Senate in 1963. In the election of the Senate Presidency in 1963, Sen. Roseller Lim of the Nacionalista Party stood behind the podium and filibustered for an unprecedented 18 hours to wait for his party-mate Alejandro Almendras who was to arrive from the United States. The Nacionalistas, who comprised exactly half of the Senate, wanted to prevent the election of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos to the Senate Presidency. Based on accounts, Sen. Lim, who was prohibited from even going to the comfort room, had to relieve in his pants until Sen. Almendras’ arrival from the United States. Sen. Lim then voted for party-mate Sen. Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez just as Sen. Almendras arrived and had to be carried off via stretcher out of the Session Hall due to exhaustion. Much to the surprise of the Nacionalistas, Sen. Almendras voted for Marcos and the rest is history.
With our weak political party system, changing camps and alliances is not surprising at all. As the adage goes, “In politics, there is no permanent ally, only permanent interest.” Former Sen. President Franklin Drilon sees it no more than a proxy fight between the Marcos and Duterte camps. Some pundits see the change of leadership as positioning for the midterm elections in preparation for the 2028 Presidential Elections. We just hope that the Senate would uphold the institution as a bastion of independence and its members live to their mantra that each Senator is sovereign and a republic of his own.