SENATE President Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday said there are no intelligence reports linking opposition politicians to the fighting in Marawi City, despite the allegations made earlier by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
“During our briefing, the ML administrator already stated that opposition senators are not in any [way] connected with the Marawi rebellion because they have no intel report to that effect,” Pimentel said in a text message to reporters, referring to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Aguirre earlier claimed that opposition politicans led by Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV had met in Marawi City with influential Mindanao clans just weeks before the fighting broke out on May 23.
He was later forced to retract his statement on the same day after the politicians he identified said they could prove they were not in Marawi City on May 2, the day of the alleged meeting.
Aguirre denied he was spreading fake news and blamed the media for misquoting him.
On Sunday, he said he would not revoke an order to the National Bureau of Investigation to build up a case against members of the political opposition over a supposed destabilization plot against the Duterte administration.
The opposition Liberal Party on Saturday had called on Aguirre to drop his investigation, given his use of dubious information.
On June 7, Aguirre ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the supposed link between some senators and opposition leaders to a plot to destabilize the government.
“The NBI through Director Dante Gierran is hereby directed and granted authority to conduct investigation and case build-up over the alleged destabilization plot against the government of the Republic of the Philippines by some senators and other opposition leaders, and if evidence warrants, to file the appropriate cases against those who may be found liable,” Aguirre’s order read.
The LP slammed the order and demanded that Aguirre recall it.
Aguirre had cleared Aquino and apologized to him, but issued no similar apology to Trillanes.
Aguirre said the probe would push through and said it was necessary to determine the veracity of the information.
