Imee Marcos withdraws Cha-cha rumor video after colleagues' outcry
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Imee Marcos withdrew a video presentation from the Senate record on Monday, May 25, after members of the minority bloc, whom her video accused of a supposed charter change conspiracy, denounced it as propaganda and disinformation.
Marcos had used her time on the floor to present a video accusing officials in the administration of her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and members of Congress of plotting to amend the 1987 Constitution to extend terms and raise the minimum age for the presidency.
The video accused Marcos' allies in the Senate of supposedly using the Charter change route to disqualify Vice President Sara Duterte from the 2028 race. "Hindi ko inaakalang aabot sa punto ng buhay ko na ako, isang Marcos, magtatanggol ng 1987 Constitution," the president's sister told the chamber.
The backlash came immediately, and members of the minority moved to expunge the video's contents from the Senate's formal record. Senators including former Senate President Tito Sotto III questioned Marcos why she was speculating on Charter change at all without hearings or documents, in a chamber already dealing with the fallout from a shooting inside the building and political tensions from the recent coup.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri — who opposed Charter change during his Senate presidency in the 19th Congress — invoked Senate rules on unparliamentary acts and moved to strike the video off the record. He branded it a "horrible propaganda video" and warned it would drag the chamber further into spectacle and embarassment.
"Inday Badiday na ba tayo dito sa Senado?" Zubiri said, invoking the late showbiz talk-show host known for gossip. "We're a circus. I apologize to those who are watching. They think we're a circus."
He told colleagues the video painted senators uninvolved in any charter change push as cowards and conspirators. "Bakit isinama kami diyan sa propaganda na 'yan na dahil kami ano 'yun, duwag?"
Zubiri reminded the chamber that the Senate had earlier stood together to block a People's Initiative push for Charter change backed by the House and Malacañang. "Kaya wala kaming kinalaman diyan," he said.
Minority pushes back
Members of the minority bloc — including now-Minority Leader Tito Sotto III, Sen. Ping Lacson, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Win Gatchalian, Sen. Erwin Tulfo, and Sen. Bam Aquino — each rose to second Zubiri's motion and to challenge the specific claims the presentation had made.
Sotto, accused in the video of being receptive to proposals from House leaders on a regional Senate and a higher presidential age requirement, said he had heard ideas floated in casual conversation but never endorsed or transmitted them. "I have never been in favor of Cha-Cha, Charter Change, never," he said. What the country needed, he added, was "Character Change."
Pangilinan, who previously chaired the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, said the panel had not held a single hearing on charter change during his tenure.
"That in itself is proof that it is haka-haka, this conspiracy to commit or to amend the Constitution for whatever reason — self-serving, term extension... These are lies," he said.
Aquino said the minority bloc — previously the old majority — met two to three times a week and that Charter change had never come up.
"If we were just asked ... if we counted now, maybe we'd get 24 who wouldn't agree to Charter Change. Maybe we'd see 24 who wouldn't agree to no election. So to say that the minority, ... that's wrong, that's fake news, that's misinformation," he said.
Hontiveros similarly disparaged the video and expressed frustration at the new issues it raised amid multiple issues plaguing the chamber. "May bago nanaman pong kuwento. Ibang storya nanaman po ang gusto ngayong linggo. Nakakahiya na. Araw-araw na lang bang ganito?" she asked.
Cayetano's Cha-cha talks claim. Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano delivered a lengthy speech in which he urged his colleagues to view Marcos' video as similar to the interviews they'd give to the media criticizing his leadership. He also requested Marcos to withdraw the video, which she granted.
Cayetano was first to publicly allege a charter change plot, telling reporters on May 18 — a week after the coup that installed him — that his "thin" majority was being pressured to break ranks, and warning that his bloc would not be dragged along "especially if we are heading toward changing the Constitution."
At his press conference on the same day, Cayetano said part of the "enticement" to break away from his majority was the promise of term extensions under the proposed new Charter.
Then Sen. Imee Marcos, in a May 21 interview with ANC's Headstart, claimed the political in-fighting in the Senate was a veiled attempt to railroad Charter change.
"They really want to change back and get the leadership of the Senate because there was so much at stake. Nakapusta na pala doon ang Con-Ass. Matatalo sa impeachment, mananalo si VP Sara sa 2028, eh di tepok na sila," Marcos said.
Charter change has long been repeatedly floated by sitting administrations and just as repeatedly rejected by senators wary of any rewrite that could extend terms or reorder the chamber.
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