MANILA, Philippines — Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday posted a P36,000 bail for the wiretapping case filed against her in connection with the publicized text messages involving former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
Hontiveros, accompanied by her legal team, headed to the Pasay City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 46 to post bail for her provisional liberty.
In October 2017, Aguirre filed a complaint against Hontiveros before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office, alleging that she violated Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Law for making public a photograph of his supposed text messages inadvertently captured during a Senate hearing in September of the same year.
The text messages showed that Aguirre was allegedly plotting against Hontiveros.
It was recently reported that the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office early this month filed criminal charhes against Hontiveros before the Pasay Court in connection with the 2017 wiretapping case filed by Aguirre.
‘Unfair, a sham’
After posting bail on Monday, Hontiveros told reporters that Aguirre’s wiretapping case has “no basis.”
“Hindi ko papalampasin ang lahat ng nasa likod nitong pang-gugulong ito [I will not let them get away with this]. This entire case is unfair, unjust, and a sham,” she said.
According to the order issued by Pasay court after the senator posted bail, Hontiveros’ arraignment and a pre-trial conference were scheduled on Jan. 21, 2022.
“Desidido akong labanan ang panghaharass na ito [I’m determined to push back against this harassment],” Hontiveros added.
“Bakit parang kasalanan ko pa na nalaman ng mamamayang Pilipino ang pakay niya laban sa akin [Why is it my fault that the Filipino people was made aware of a plan against me]? If his text messages were set in fonts large enough to be caught on camera, then he has only himself to blame,” she also said.
“He should have known better than to conspire with others in the middle of a public event, in full view of photographers’ cameras. There was no deception or subterfuge involved,” she added.
The senator, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the development of the case.
“Bakit ngayon biglang umusad ang kasong ito, pagkatapos ng apat na taon ng pagkabulok [Why did this case suddenly moved forward after four years of being stagnant]?” she said.
“Why are government resources being devoted to this obviously baseless case, when we need every peso for rehabilitation and rescue efforts for victims of Typhoon Odette?” she added.