Senator Rodante Marcoleta on Monday took exception to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s recent remarks about the Blue Ribbon Committee and the Senate’s handling of witnesses, calling the statements “unsettling” and unfair to his past leadership of the panel.
“There are recent unsettling statements. I am alarmed by the explanation of the minority leader that we’re not questioning the prerogative of the residing officer but we can question the Senate President on issues that are quite legitimate such as the matters I would like to raise today,” Marcoleta said during plenary.
He specifically pointed to Sotto’s September 9 interview on ANC’s Headstart with Karen Davila, where the Senate leader asserted that the Blue Ribbon chairmanship does not need to be held by a lawyer.
“Unsettling, Mr. [Senate] President because… your answer is there is no such thing as a rule dapat abogado ‘yon. ‘Abogado ka nga, di ka naman magaling mag-imbestiga diba, so useless’,” Marcoleta said.
“Mr. President I’d like to put on record there was no inclination from this representation na meron man lang kaming sinabi na ang chairman ay dapat abogado. Wala po kaming kahit na shadow of inclination. Any reference to that matter wala po kaming sinasabi…” he added.
Marcoleta also defended his record as former Blue Ribbon chair after Sotto was quoted saying many had been dissatisfied with the direction of investigations under his watch.
“Kung meron po akong pagkukulang ay humihingi ako ng tawad sa aking mga kasamahan sa blue ribbon committee ngunit hindi ko po sinadya na ilihis sa direksyon ang tamang pag-imbestiga,” he said.
For his part, Sotto stood firm, defending the Senate’s authority to determine custody of witnesses cited in contempt and explaining his stance on the Discaya couple’s possible inclusion in the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
Under Senate rules, he said, a witness cited in contempt “may be ordered detained in such a place as may be designated by the committee alone or with the concurrence of the Senate President.”
Sotto explained that he was hesitant to endorse the Discayas for WPP coverage due to their “incomplete” testimony.
“I heard from the Secretary of Justice that it should be ‘tell all,’ not ‘tell half.’ Why is part of the story missing? You cannot blame me if I do not want to immediately do that,” he stressed.
He also addressed criticism for ordering the return of former DPWH assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez from the Pasay City Jail back to Senate custody.
“That was where the letter was transmitted to the Senate Legal Office representing us in the Writ of Amparo hearing. So the request was to go back to the Senate. I said that was good because that was precisely what the minority members wanted,” he said.
On the question of qualifications for the Blue Ribbon chairmanship, Sotto reiterated: “Nothing in the rules says so. As a matter of fact, we debated about it.”
The Senate President downplayed the controversy over his public statements, saying these were simply his honest views.
“I always, as far as I’m concerned, tell the truth. Kapag ang midya kausap mo kausap mo taong bayan eh, ganun ‘yon. Kaya iniiwasan ko na hindi ako magsabi ng totoo. Kung opinyon ko hinihingi, binibigay ko opinyon ko, hindi ko tinatago. So, if you don’t like my opinion, I’m sorry,” Sotto said.
