Escudero hits Sotto over Cha-cha support

Senate President Francis Escudero slammed Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III for expressing support for Charter change (Cha-cha) following the Supreme Court (SC)'s ruling that struck down the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

- By Neil Jayson Servallos — With Delon Porcalla

In a post on X over the weekend, Escudero accused Sotto of siding with the House of Representatives (HOR) and Speaker Martin Romualdez.

"Kinampihan na nga po ninyo ang impeachment ng HOR at ni Speaker Martin maski sabi ng SC, unconstitutional... Ngayon naman po kinakampihan na din niyo ang Cha-cha ng HOR at ni Speaker Romualdez?" Escudero said in his post, ending his statement with the hashtag: the Senate is not your playground.

Escudero's remarks came after Sotto's interview on The STAR's "Truth on the Line" last week, wherein Sotto said he now favors convening a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution. He cited the SC's July 25 ruling, which he said made impeaching an impeachable officer "impossible."

Sotto explained that while he initially opposed Cha-cha, he now supports it to address what he described as disruptions to the Constitution's impeachment provisions, particularly if the SC rejects the House's bid to overturn its decision.

"The Constitution suddenly became messy as far as impeachment is concerned. How do we fix that? Frankly, at first I didn't want Cha-cha, but now I'm OK with it. I'm willing to agree to a constituent assembly," Sotto told Truth on the Line in Filipino.

Apart from revising the SC's "broad powers" over impeachment proceedings, Sotto also supported amending the Constitution's economic provisions — an advocacy previously pushed by President Marcos' allies in the House to ease restrictions on foreign investments.

"If ever, first I would allow what they call the economic provisions. Let's amend those. After that, we should also change what they call the SC's broad powers like this. That can't be the case. It needs to be clearly defined," he said.

'Wala akong kinakampihan'

Responding to Escudero's remarks, Sotto clarified that his support for constitutional amendments would depend on whether the SC addresses what he sees as flaws in its new impeachment guidelines.