Chiz Escudero's road to downfall

A little over a year after ousting Sen. Miguel Zubiri from the senate presidency, Sen. Francis Escudero would find himself in the same spot: blindsided and unseated.

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Zubiri himself would be the one to unseat Escudero this time, moving to declare the senate presidency vacant and allowing now Senate President Tito Sotto to assume the new role. Thus is politics, and Escudero was all smiles during his ousting.

As far as Senate presidencies went, Escudero's is among the shortest stints in history at 16 months. Zubiri's stint lasted almost two years (22 months), and Sotto's is among the longest terms at four years. Only a handful of other Senate presidents had one-year stints.

While the change of leadership in the Senate can happen at any moment, the events leading up to it could span months.

Several controversies hounded Escudero's Senate presidency, and it would continue to follow him as a senator.

Political scientist Cleve Arguelles told Philstar.com that it was not so much Escudero playing his cards wrong after the 2025 midterm elections; it was that the controversies that surrounded him had turned him into a liability.

"The chamber acted swiftly to cut its losses," Arguelles said.

So, what happened?

PLAYING THE ZEROSUM GAME

During the final stages of the controversial 2025 national budget deliberations, Escudero said it best himself: the national budget is a zerosum game. This means that there is a finite number of resources, and they cannot be added to one without taking from another.