A SENATOR said Tuesday he wanted his colleague Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to face the Senate’s ethics committee for his “disrespectful” remarks about the Senate being a “lapdog” of the Duterte administration.
“Maybe it is high time that we referred to the Senate Ethics Committee Senator Trillanes’ actions since he is becoming damaging to the institution and becoming destructive to the country,” Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said in a statement.
He said he found Trillanes’ comments “disrespectful and unparliamentary,” and that he should be reminded that the Senate was a democratic institution.
“We in the Senate debate issues instead of hurling insults. We vote instead of calling each other names when we disagree,” Ejercito said.
During Samahang Plaridel’s breakfast forum at the Manila Hotel on Monday, Trillanes said his colleagues in the Senate were acting like “puppets” of President Rodrigo Duterfe.
He also took potshots at his colleagues whom he said would rather be Duterte allies because they would not admit that they were scared.
“I can see in this Senate the senators who are cowards,” Trillanes said.
Ejercito, a member of the majority bloc in the Senate, said Trillanes appeared to be rabidly against the Duterte administration.
“We have 23 independent minds duly elected in the Senate. But even when we disagree on a number of issues, we maintain our respect for one another. I hope Senator Trillanes would do the same,” Ejercito said.
When questioned if he would initiate the filing of an ethics complaint against Trillanes, Ejercito said he must first consult his colleagues.
“It is really difficult to do this against a colleague. Even with Senator [Leila] De Lima, I sympathized. Senators need to respect their colleagues,” he said
Trillanes said he would welcome any ethics complaint filed against him in the Senate.
“But here’s the thing, if Senator Ejercito believes that my statement that the Senate is becoming a lapdog of the Duterte administration is highly offensive yet sees nothing wrong with Duterte’s rape comments to the soldiers, then we really have a problem,” he said. With PNA
Majority Leader Vicente Sotto sad he did not know the reason why Trillanes made his remarks.
“He should be careful in calling us names,” Sotto said. With PNA
