00:00 Good evening Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
00:03 Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri was elected as Senate President
00:08 after refusing to follow the instructions of the powerful.
00:14 Zubiri admitted that he was offended by the possible origin of the incident
00:19 in the following charter change and violation of the PIDEA lease.
00:24 Next, Senator Cheese Escudero was declared as a replacement and was nominated for the position.
00:30 Bob Gonzales was live.
00:33 Vicky Maris Emil was the leader of the Senate last week before the long break of the Congress.
00:44 Under the new Senate President Escudero, it seems that the charter change will be canceled.
00:54 In the middle of the Senate session earlier, Senate President Mig Zubiri was elected.
01:00 I have never dictated my position on any of you, you know that.
01:03 I've always supported your independence, which is probably why I face my demise today.
01:09 I failed to follow instructions from the powers that be. Simple as that.
01:15 I've listened to all my colleagues throughout my Senate presidency, and again I listen to them today.
01:21 As we head into a new period for the Senate, I fought the good fight.
01:27 If I've ruffled some feathers in doing so, then so be it.
01:32 I did not accept the position of President of the Senate just to let it fall.
01:39 Today, I offer my resignation as Senate President of the Republic of the Philippines.
01:47 Zubiri one-on-one followed the actions of the Senate during his two-year term
01:52 along with the Senate's decision to adopt the People's Initiative for the January charter change.
01:57 I have put myself on the line to shield the Senate from all attacks,
02:02 particularly from efforts to diminish the powers of this institution as the country's last bastion of democracy.
02:09 In January, we fought against the dreaded People's Initiative,
02:14 which would have destroyed this very institution I'm standing here right now.
02:20 God knows what I had to do to defend this.
02:23 Senator Ronald Bato de la Rosa could not help but cry as Zubiri gave his speech.
02:28 After Zubiri, the Senate leaders also stood up one-on-one.
02:33 Senator Cheese Escudero was nominated as the new Senate President.
02:36 No other nominee was nominated, so Escudero was declared the winner by acclamation.
02:41 The election of Senate President Francis Cheese Escudero is hereby recognized.
02:52 Congratulations, Senator Francis Cheese Escudero.
02:57 Escudero was accompanied by his wife, Heart Evangelista, who was also nominated.
03:01 My hats off to you, Senate President Zubiri. I salute you and I hope I will make you proud.
03:07 There is no My Team, no Your Team for me. No SPMIGS, no Cheese for me.
03:15 I think that each of us are members of the same Senate.
03:21 Senator Gingoy Estrada was nominated as the new Senate President Pro Tempore,
03:25 while Senator Francis Tolentino was the new Majority Leader.
03:29 Minority Leader Senator Coco Pimentel will remain.
03:32 Zubiri will be the independent Senator but he promised to help the new leaderato.
03:37 He will also replace the chairperson of some committee members.
03:41 Zubiri admitted that he has a bad feeling about what happened.
03:47 I only found out last Wednesday that they are talking to each other.
03:54 We were watching over them last weekend.
04:02 I feel bad because some of them were texting me, "We're with you. We're full support."
04:10 We are 100% with you.
04:15 We haven't done anything yet. It's really hard to be a politician.
04:21 He started talking about the Charter Change and he was even more upset because of the PDEA leaks hearings.
04:27 I'm only presuming that is the cause because many people told me,
04:33 "Stop the hearings, this and that."
04:38 It's hard to talk about it.
04:45 I must have ruffled other people's feathers from my independent stance of the Senate.
04:55 It didn't stop there.
04:57 Even during the PIPO's initiative, we didn't agree on their timelines and Charter Change.
05:10 I felt that there are bad feelings and it's hard because I just want the independence of our institution of the Senate to remain.
05:24 So I saw it coming.
05:27 Now, the chairperson of the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments has been replaced.
05:31 Zubiri said,
05:32 Goodbye ChaCha. Senator Escudero is already signing.
05:37 Senator Alnara is already signing.
05:40 We had to cancel. It's all canceled.
05:44 You know that Senator Escudero is against ChaCha.
05:47 He's openly against ChaCha.
05:50 I hope the people that supported him know that.
05:53 As far as we're concerned, ChaCha this week is dead.
05:56 The new Senate President Escudero's appointment was just right.
05:59 To his excellence, to his patience, to his hard work, to his unwavering love for the country.
06:07 Meanwhile, Senate President Escudero said that they will discuss with the majority on how to re-arrange the committee chairmanship.
06:21 Thank you very much, Mav Gonzales.
06:24 [Music]
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