MANILA – Sen. Rodante Marcoleta said any senator who would leave the majority bloc amid reported renewed leadership tensions in the chamber would be “worse than Judas.”

In a media report on Tuesday, Marcoleta said the remark was also emphasized by Sen. Camille Villar during a majority caucus held on the night of the shooting incident inside the Senate premises on May 13.

“Mas masahol pa kay Judas, ang magju-Judas sa amin. Wala kaming pag-uusap. Sinabi ko lang sa grupo namin,” he said.

(Narration: I told my group that anyone who would withdraw from our group, or would betray us, is worse than Judas.)

Marcoleta also referred to Judas Iscariot in Christian tradition as the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, an act that led to the crucifixion.

“Nalulungkot ako. Sabi ko bakit kaya nangyari sa bansa namin ito,” the senator added.

(The incident saddens me. I was asking myself why did this happen to our country.)

The Senate had earlier undergone a leadership change on May 11, when senators elected Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate President, replacing Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

Tensions in the chamber also followed an incident where gunshots were fired inside the Senate building amid a lockdown, which caused panic among those inside the premises.

Marcoleta, however, dismissed allegations linking the caucus and impeachment-related discussions to the incident, saying lawmakers were still in a briefing when the shots were fired.

“Gaano kayaman ang imagination ng isang tao na kami ang gagawa noon? In-extend namin ang caucus kasi tumawag ang House, totoo naman eh. Sinubmit nila ang Articles of Impeachment, nagb-briefing kami, hindi pa kami nangangahalahati, biglang may putukan,” he said.

(His narration: How rich is a person’s imagination to even accuse us of instigating this? We extended the caucus because the House called that they were submitting the Articles of Impeachment to us. We were not even halfway through the briefing when the gunshots erupted.)

“Hindi ako natakot, nalungkot ako para sa aking bansa. Kailangan ba mangyari yun?” he added.

(I wasn’t scared. I felt sad for our country. Why did it have to happen?)