By Brian Campued
Echoing his earlier call for senators to go back to work following weeks of impasse, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed hope that the Senate could finally “move away from the chaos” hounding the chamber and would now return to its core work of legislation under the leadership of Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.
Speaking to the media following his working visit in Kazan, Russia on Thursday, the President stressed that the upper chamber needs to ramp up its legislative work as most priority bills identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) have already been accomplished at the House of Representatives.
On June 17, the Senate convened in a special session, which saw the official election of Gatchalian as new Senate president and the subsequent reorganization of major committees.
“That is exactly what we have been all hoping for, that things become more orderly, na maging maayos ang takbo ng Senado,” Marcos Jr. said.
“Sana naman sa paglagay ni Senator Sherwin bilang SP (Senate president) ay mabalik naman tayo sa normal na patakbo ng Senado. And that they can take care of the business of government, the business of legislation, and all these necessary legislation that we listed,” he added, noting that there were proposed measures which are vital for more efficient government efforts amid external economic pressures such as the global oil crisis.
The Chief Executive likewise expressed his readiness to work with the Senate to fast-track the passage of the priority bills.
“I will definitely do whatever I can to work together with the legislature, with the Senate in particular, to make sure that things go smoothly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Marcos Jr. said that he sees no problem with Sen. Francis Escudero serving as the presiding officer for the upcoming trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Escudero previously helmed the mantle in June 2025 but was met with controversies, particularly on the interpretation of “forthwith” under Article XI, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution, on whether the Senate, as the Impeachment Court, should immediately proceed to trial.
The Supreme Court later declared the previous Articles of Impeachment unconstitutional and that the complaints against Duterte violated the one-year bar rule on initiating impeachment proceedings against the same official.
Marcos expressed his confidence in Escudero’s legal expertise and prior experience in impeachment proceedings.
“As a matter of fact, the rules that were adopted by the Senate were the rules that Senator Chiz wrote during last year’s impeachment, when they were handling the last year’s impeachment complaint. So in terms of his ability to be able to run the trial. I don’t think that’s in doubt,” the Chief Executive said.
“If you remember, the reason that the impeachment trial last year came to a stop was because of the Supreme Court decision. And that had nothing to do with Senator Chiz.”
Nonetheless, Marcos Jr. said he would support whoever the Senate ultimately chooses as president officer for the upcoming impeachment trial, “as long as the process that they undertook in making the choice is proper, is legal, is constitutional.” (with report from Clay Pardilla / PTV News)
-jpv
