SENATOR Panfilo Lacson advised embattled Senator Leila de Lima to make peace instead of picking fights with senators after she accused him of “doublespeak” after he agreed that there is sufficient evidence to file a case against her based on the statements of witnesses in the House hearing.
“If you are embattled, it would be much better if you do not quarrel with others. Or, at the very least, you should be quiet if you cannot find an ally,” Lacson said when told that De Lima said she was aghast at his supposed propensity for doublespeak.
Lacson had earlier said he was amused by what she was going through because he also experienced severe harassment in 2010 when he was being implicated in the double murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.
“I only expressed my opinion. And then she says it is doublespeak,” Lacson said. “Her appreciation was wrong about what I said of the hearing. I was referring to the degree of harassment on me.”
Lacson said he has nothing to do with De Lima’s fight outside the Senate since it is not within the control of senators.
But Lacson stood by his statement, saying there was probable cause to charge her in court, which could also lead to the issuance of a warrant of arrest against her.
“Based on the affidavits that I read and other pieces of evidence once the preliminary investigation against her is concluded at the [Department of Justice], we will see that probable cause exists, hence a warrant for her arrest will [likely] be issued,” Lacson said.
Lacson said it would only be doublespeak if he says he believes the testimonies of witnesses against De Lima are are incredible if he really thinks they are credible.
“She got it all wrong. When I said I was laughing at what she is going through now, I wasn’t referring to the credibility of evidence being presented against her now but the degree of harassment that was thrown against me,” Lacson said.
Lacson said he felt all alone at that time and he practically had nobody on his side except his family, but De Lima still has her Liberal Party allies supporting her.
“Her fight is outside [the Senate]. She already has her hands full. Is she opening another front?” Lacson asked reporters. “If that’s the case, then bring it on. I’m not one to back down from her. But I really want to avoid that.
“I hope it will not reach that point because we want to focus on our legislative work. We want to put a closure on the [extrajudicial killings] investigation. Put a closure on the ethics investigation. Then focus on our legislative work,” said Lacson, alluding to the ethics complaints against De Lima.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said a second ethics complaint has been filed against De Lima Tuesday night.
Sotto, chairman of the Senate committee on ethics and privileges, said he has yet to read the second complaint but he said it came in the form of a letter and hand-delivered to the committee office Tuesday night.
“It’s from a different complainant. I haven’t seen it. The committee just informed me that somebody came over last night with a new complaint,” Sotto told reporters.
He said the committee will discuss the new complaint along with the amended complaint earlier filed by lawyer Abelardo de Jesus, who based his case against De Lima on the President’s revelations. He said they will tackle the two ethics complaints next week.
“That is the reason we are still [discussing] the issue of whether we have jurisdiction or not. Hopefully by next week, I’m sure all the members have already read their copies of the amended complaint,” Sotto said.