Sen. Panfilo Lacson. FILE PHOTO / Albert Calvelo of Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson did not mince words as he hit the Makabayan bloc after one of its members branded the Senate probe on red-tagging a “venue for witch hunting.”
“Just because they cannot have it themselves, the Makabayan bloc now accuses the Senate of being a ‘venue for witch hunting’ in our red tagging inquiry,” Lacson,who led the investigation as chair of the Senate defense panel, said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Just because they cannot have it themselves, the Makabayan bloc now accuses the Senate of being a “venue for witch hunting” in our red tagging inquiry. Looking for a scapegoat is normal for people who feel they were a bunch of losers.
— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) December 1, 2020
“Looking for a scapegoat is normal for people who feel they were a bunch of losers,” he added.
It was Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate who called the inquiry as “being reduced to a venue for witch hunting” in a letter he sent so Lacson informing the senator of his absence at Tuesday’s hearing.
While Zarate thanked the committee for giving him and his fellow Makabayan lawmakers an opportunity to speak during a previous hearing, he said the inquiry is supposedly being used by the government’s anti-insurgency task force to “further vilify us with sweeping and baseless accusations, false statements and malicious innuendos.”
But Lacson, in a separate statement, maintained that the investigation, which was done through a total of three hearings, had been fair.
He said both sides had been given equal opportunity to air their inputs and concerns.
Inputs gathered during the hearings will lead to legislation that seeks to address the issue, according to the senator.