Lacson quips on Rep. Marcoleta’s query on impeachment

MANILA, Philippines – “The cocoNUT doesn’t fall far from the cocoNUT tree.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson wrote this in a social media post on Thursday as he posted photo quotes of SAGIP Party-list Rep. Paolo Marcoleta and Rep. Gerville Luistro’s exchange on the process of impeachment.

On Wednesday, Rep. Marcoleta asked during the House committee on justice discussions regarding the process of impeachment in the lower chamber, saying determining the sufficiency in grounds should have come first before they voted for sufficiency in form and substance.

Luistro replied by requesting that her colleague be provided a copy of the rules.

“Basa basa muna bago bumuga, para hindi masopla [Read first before you speak, so you don’t get shut down],” Lacson said.

“Since we grow cocoNUTS instead of apples in the Philippines, let me just say this: The cocoNUT doesn’t fall far from the cocoNUT tree,”  he added

READ: Lacson says Marcoleta Soce ‘admission’ could be ‘indirect bribery’

Rep. Marcoleta is the son of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta who has been engaged in a verbal spat with Lacson on the issues of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), among others.

The two have been butting heads over the history of the KIG, which Lacson said, quoting the island’s local government, was discovered then donated to the country by Tomas Cloma

This was later dismissed by Marcoleta, calling the information “all wrong” and an attempt at “historical distortion.”

Later Marcoleta also questioned the whereabouts of the partial report of the blue ribbon panel headed by Lacson as it was yet to be filed in the Senate. 

In return, Lacson explained that the report is missing signatures from their colleagues, and he also accused Marcoleta of having links to government contractors in the flood control scam.

READ: Comelec: Marcoleta didn’t commit poll offense in campaign contributions

In a recent privilege speech, Lacson even mentioned Marcoleta’s statements that supposedly did not match the latter’s statement of contribution and expenditure (Soce) and statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN).

However, on Tuesday, the Commission on Elections found that Marcoleta did not commit any election offence, due to the lack of laws to punish his campaign contribution disclosure. /jpv