A vote was called after Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquiao moved to declare both the chairmanship and the memberships vacant, a call that apparently stunned Ms.de Lima’s Liberal Party peers. Alan Peter Cayetano delivered a privilege speech wherein he lamented how some politicians were supposedly using the Senate in their plot to damage President Rodrigo Duterte’s reputation and reclaim power.
Advertisement
De Lima walked out of the Senate hall in the middle of the said speech.
The vote to declare the committee positions vacant resulted in 16 senators agreeing to it, four voted against, while two abstained.
Gordon was elected as new chairman and Lacson as vice chairman of the justice committee while members include: De Lima, Pangilinan, Gatchalian, Cayetano and one from Senate minority bloc.
When asked why she walks out, De Lima said: “I can not stand it”.
On the other hand, Pacquiao offered no reason for his motion to declare vacant the justice committee which is investigating the alleged extra-judicial killings amid the government’s intensified anti-drug campaign.
Cayetano, running mate of Mr. Duterte, said De Lima was among those misleading the people and the global media to destroy the image of the chamber as an institution and to distract senators from the much-needed work to be done.
Among Matobato’s claim during the recent hearing that a group of vigilante policemen, that was the Davao Death Squad, killed some 1,000 people in Davao City, many of President Duterte’s orders, between 1988 and 2013 when Duterte was still the city mayor.
“We have to save our nation from the efforts of a few people not only politicians, Filipinos but some in the worldwide community from destroying the image of country, economy and future of the next generation”, Cayetano said. She admitted that she walked out because she could “no longer stand it”.
Advertisement
Drilon, the Senate president pro-tempore, asked to be recognized, and pointed out there was no rule that allowed a member of the Senate to declare vacant the chairmanship of a committee. “I’m gonna deliver my own privilege speech tomorrow instead of confronting him now”. Trillanes was even prompted to turn off Cayetano’s microphone to stop the latter from talking.
