Sen. Nancy Binay and Sen. Alan Cayetano. SENATE PRIB PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Nancy Binay said on Thursday that she was considering filing a complaint against Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano at the chamber’s ethics committee over his behavior during the inquiry into the new Senate building.
Cayetano, who heads the Senate panel on accounts, accused Binay of disrupting Wednesday’s hearing on the allegedly ballooning cost of the new Senate building.
The two senators traded barbs over the supposed cost of the new building, with Cayetano insisting that the building’s cost would total a whopping P23 billion. The heated exchange resulted in name-calling, personal attacks, and accusations, including claims that Binay is providing questions to media personnel to discredit her fellow senators.
Cayetano even reminded Binay that her first name is Lourdes, not Marites — a term widely used in the Philippines to describe gossipmongers.
Binay walked out of the hearing after she convinced the Department of Public Works and Highways to admit that the new Senate building would cost only P21 billion.
“Maybe I might have to talk with my staff if there is a need to file a complaint at the ethics panel,” she said in Filipino.
“I don’t know if he’s heading the ethics committee now. Because I used to head it before, I don’t know if it was given to him. I will look first at who is now the chair,” she added.
Sen. Francis Tolentino heads the chamber’s ethics panel. He left the Senate panel on accounts hearing early, unable to witness the barbs between Binay and Cayetano.
In a message to reporters on Thursday, Tolentino said the incident could’ve been prevented had he not left the hearing early.
“My regret is [that] I left the hearing early. It’s just that there are many visitors who came all the way from Baguio and I had to receive them yesterday. It wouldn’t have happened,” said Tolentino in a mix of English and Filipino.
The issues on the new building erupted after Senate President Francis Escudero ordered a review of its cost.
This was after Cayetano informed him about an apparent “dramatic increase” in the building’s construction fee from an initial budget of P8 billion to a projected P23.3 billion.
READ: Escudero wants P23-billion new Senate building reviewed: Parang OA