MANILA, Philippines — While he admitted that his injured foot may have been a factor in the leadership change at the Senate, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. claims it was only one trigger, noting that there were several concerns before it.
Revilla in a brief message to reporters on Friday said that there were many problems even before his injured foot got involved in the ouster of former Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“Move forward na lang tayo. Pwedeng isa sa naging trigger, pero bago ‘yan, marami nang problema,” Revilla said.
(Let’s just move forward. It could be one of the triggers, but even before that, there were many problems already.)
Revilla has been recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, but he has started to attend sessions physically. However, when his injury worsened, he requested that he be allowed to participate in the session virtually, which Zubiri denied.
Earlier, Senator Nancy Binay poked fun at claims that the issue of Revilla’s injured foot led to Zubiri’s eventual ouster from the Senate president seat, asking if the foot had more “kick” than powerful people.
Binay was referring to Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s claims in a television interview that Zubiri’s decision to deny Senators Francis Escudero and Francis Tolentino’s request regarding Revilla’s virtual attendance initiated the leadership change.
READ: Binay pokes fun at claim Revilla’s toes ousted Zubiri: ‘The foot has spoken’
Zubiri resigned from the Senate president post on Monday amid talks that there were enough votes to oust him. He was replaced by Escudero.
According to Zubiri, he denied this request out of consideration for traditions, noting that the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago was marked absent even if she was on medical leave.
Binay said this would mark the first time that a foot has shown “more kicking power” than the powers-that-be — referring to the reason cited by Zubiri as to why he was ousted.
In his speech during the Senate session on Monday, Zubiri said he believes that the moves to oust him were orchestrated because he failed to follow directives.
READ: Chiz Escudero is new Senate president; Miguel Zubiri out
Binay was one of the six senators who stuck by Zubiri and resigned from their posts, including Senators Sonny Angara, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, former Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, and former Majority Leader Joel Villanueva.
READ: Villanueva, Binay, Angara, Ejercito, Legarda follow Zubiri’s resignation