Imee denies using Senate hearings, says it’s Chiz who is ‘ambisyoso’
Senate President Francis Escudero. Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Senator Imee Marcos branded Senate President Francis Escudero as “ambitious” following his warning to her against using the legislative body for partisan politics.
In an online interview on Tuesday, Marcos was asked about Escudero’s statements last April 11, after the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest.
In response, Marcos said the allegations were funny because she had already forgotten about campaigning for her reelection bid.
“What they have been saying is funny to me; let us just return to the rules of the Senate, where you cannot find anything about issuing a show-cause (order),” she said in Filipino.
`Forgotten about campaigning’
“The claims that the hearing is being used for politics are also funny because we know that he is the ambitious one. I have forgotten about campaigning,” she added.
The show-cause order that Marcos mentioned was the directive issued by Escudero against Special Envoy on Transnational Crimes Ambassador Markus Lacanilao, who was cited for contempt during the committee on foreign relations hearing for allegedly lying.
Escudero said Lacanilao was detained without his approval and due process, adding that Marcos flaunted to the media her signed arrest and detention order even before she sent it to his office.
“Ambassador Lacanilao was ordered detained without the requisite approval and due process,” Escudero said.
“After several hours of Ambassador Lacanilao’s unauthorized detention, I directed his release, both as a matter of regularity and out of humanitarian consideration, as his grandfather is to be laid to rest today,” he added.
READ: Escudero tells Sen. Marcos: Don’t use Senate as partisan politics platform
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, meanwhile, urged both Escudero and Marcos to set aside their emotions talk to each other, and focus on the findings of the committee.
READ: Senator quizzes DOTr for tapping PS-DBM in infrastructure project deals
Marcos is currently running for senator, initially under the administration-backed Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas. However, Marcos left the alliance after admitting she could not take how the administration treated Duterte.
ICC arrest order
On March 11, after returning from Hong Kong, Duterte was prevented from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 by local authorities. The authorities assisted the International Criminal Police Organization in enforcing an arrest order from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC arrest order was issued due to the crimes against humanity raps filed against Duterte for his administration’s war against drugs.
READ: Rodrigo Duterte now under police custody
After questioning the arrest, Duterte eventually boarded a chartered plane at Villamor Air Base, which left Manila for the Netherlands a few minutes after 11:00 of March 11.
READ: Plane carrying Rodrigo Duterte leaves PH for The Hague
Since then, Marcos has criticized the government led by her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for supposedly handing Duterte over to a foreign body.
