IT came like a knockout punch. It was a short, crisp, and straight punch to the jaw. Suddenly, his legs wobbled. He fell to the ground, groggy and weak. In a few seconds, it was over. Tricky Tsis is out of the Senate presidency, replaced by an old hand, Sen. Tito Sotto, a sizzled veteran of many fights. To say that Sotto is a better senator is an understatement. He possesses a higher EQ (emotional intelligence) or SQ (social intelligence) than Tricky Tsis. This is a better way to put it.
There are reasons – or ways – to look at the downfall of Tricky Tsis. His intention to manipulate the enactment of the proposed national budget for 2025 became obvious shortly after he assumed the post of Senate president in 2024. Although the Senate president is not part of the bicameral conference committee like the speaker, his counterpart at the House of Representatives, Tricky Tsis strangely insisted on taking part in its deliberations.
According to House sources, Tricky Tsis insisted certain fund insertions in the final version of the proposed 2025 national budget. The amount varied: P9 billion of flood control projects were inserted for Sorsogon, his home province; and P12 billion for Bulacan, the home province of his erstwhile majority leader, Joel Villanueva.
According to the sources, Tricky Tsis forced his way for fund insertions reaching a low of P142 billion to a high of P150 billion in the proposed 2025 national budget. They described it as the first red flag of what kind Tricky Tsis would be as the top honcho of the Senate. Sources claimed those funds insertions were documented. Among the pieces of evidence were video shots, showing him as forcing his way to enter the House premises despite it being a holiday.
“Take it or leave it,” Tricky Tsis warned surprised counterparts from the House in his deplorable insistence on the inclusion of his proposed insertions. His bicameral conference committee colleagues could not reject them because they were in quandary. If the committee opposed those fund insertions, the specter of a reenacted budget loomed. Unlike the U.S., the Philippines has a way to avoid a government shutdown when Congress fails to enact a national budget. It simply reenacts the old budget of the preceding year, but this is regarded as anti-progress because it slows down economic growth.
For his part, Tricky Tsis denied those allegations of fund insertions and described press reports as part of what he called a “demolition job” against him. He challenged his detractors to present evidence. It was bewildering because Tricky Tsis virtually overshadowed the outgoing Grace Poe, then chair of the Senate appropriation committee. Poe finished her term in 2025. However, those allegations of fund insertions came out a year later, when leadership issues against him were raised against him.
It is usual for the two chambers of Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – to come out with conflicting versions of the proposed annual national budget. They usually form a bicameral committee, where contingents from the two chambers meet to iron out their differences to come out with a reconciled version.
The bicameral chamber is described as the “third chamber” of Congress because they hold plenary powers to negotiate, or perform some horsetrading, for a reconciled version. Afterwards, they present the reconciled version to their respective chambers, where members vote to approve or reject it without any amendments.
According to Senate sources, the sentiment to replace Tricky Tsis has been simmering for weeks for certain senators, as issues against him and his faction came out one after the other. The issue of fund insertions in the proposed national budget was one of them. The other issue pertains to his handling of the impeachment trial of Misfit Sara. They did not feel comfortable with the way he manipulated the Senate to protect Misfit Sara.
His handling of the Misfit was another instance of red flag because it has compromised the Senate sense of integrity and public image. His mistakes were obvious to ignore. His perverse definition of “forthwith,” his distorted view of the extent of Senate’s power on impeachment cases, and assertion that the Senate is superior, not coequal of the House, have contributed largely to his own destruction and loss of prestige among lawmakers. The only choice was to replace Tricky Tsis and it became sudden and decisive.
What broke the camel’s back was the reported connection of Tricky Tsis to Lawrence Lubiano, majority owner and president of Centerways Construction and Development Corporation, one of the 15 firms which BBM identified to have been part of the flood control controversy. Lubiano admitted he gave P30 million as his “personal contribution” to the campaign kitty of Tricky Tsis in the 2022 elections. Tricky Tsis confirmed he received the P30-M from Lubiano in a separate press conference.
Senators could have felt that BBM gave up on Tricky Tsis when the former revealed details of the flood control anomaly. Although he and Tricky Tsis were reported as friends, BBM virtually pushed Tricky Tsis off the cliff, as the anomaly exploded on his face. Tricky Tsis was among the major casualties in the controversy because it confirmed the grand conspiracy of corrupt contractors, with equally corrupt DPWH officials, and corrupt lawmakers to defraud the public coffers of its resources.
