Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News
Published May 20, 2024 03:51 PM PHT | Updated May 20, 2024 03:57 PM PHT
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday stepped down as the leader of the chamber as it prepared to end its second regular session.
“It has been my greatest honor — the greatest honor of my life as a public servant and my biggest challenge,” he said on the floor as he ended his tenure as Senate president.
Zubiri had been Senate president since July 2022, during which time, he said, the Senate “legislated with an eye towards progress and a heart for service.”
“Senate president or not, I will continue to push for the welfare of our laborers until they receive decent wages that they deserve,” he also said after listing economic legislation that the Senate worked on while he was at its helm.
“We have been bold and courageous as a Senate. Unafraid to call out injustice when we see it, whether on our sovereign seas or within our own government.”
He added: We have been fair-minded and truth-driven in the Senate despite the political noise that surrounds us.”
Zubiri, in his speech, also talked about defending the Senate as an institution from attempts to undermine it.
“We have been a staunchly independent Senate — let me say that again, we have been a staunchly independent Senate,” he said.
Senators had described Zubiri as “charming” and a “consensus builder,” which he demonstrated during his stint as majority floor leader in the previous Congress.
His replacement as Senate president comes after months of rumors of a coup at the upper chamber, with different names floated as his supposed successor.
Zubiri confirmed before the Senate session that he was stepping down, saying that he does not think “the powers that be” see him as an “enemy” but that he may not have “followed directions” as hoped for.
He added: “I’ll always…remain in support of the independence of the Senate.”
HEAT OVER SENATE HEARINGS
Zubiri last week acknowledged that he was getting criticism from supporters of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and of former President Rodrigo Duterte over recent investigations conducted by Senate committees.
“Binabatikos ako ng iba’t-ibang grupo, I’m neither here nor there. Galit sa akin yung Duterte group galit sa akin yung Marcos group,” Zubiri, said at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs on May 13.
(I’m being criticized by different groups. The Duterte group is angry at me while the Marcos groups is also angry at me.)
ECONOMIC CHARTER CHANGE
Zubiri, in January, filed Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, seeking to amend economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution that proponents of charter change say have been keeping foreign investments out.
He said at the time that he was looking at having the Senate finish deliberations on and adopt the resolution by March.
He said in March that getting enough votes for the resolution to hurdle the Senate was still “in the realm of possibility” but would be a challenge.
Slow progress on the resolution prompted House leaders in February to accuse the Senate of sitting on charter change and to urge senators to “with a sense of urgency.”
“We need 18 votes. Right now, sa tingin ko kulang pa kami ng 2. So kailangan talaga kausapin natin yung mga medyo natatakot dito sa mga probisyon na ito,” he said last week.