THE Senate committee on ethics might just summon the complainant against Senator Leila de Lima to personally defend his case amid questions on jurisdiction raised during its last hearing, Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said on Wednesday.
The committee chaired by Sotto was scheduled to resume its hearing on Thursday but decided to defer it next week after getting a letter and supplemental affidavit from the complainant, lawyer Abelardo de Jesus.
Sotto said the committee received the addendum Tuesday while he got the letter addressed to him this Wednesday morning.
READ: Senate ethics body to expedite decision on complaint vs De Lima
“Kaninang umaga may sulat sa akin. Medyo mabigat ang sulat. Parang nagbibigay sya ng kanyang sariling pananaw about the issue of jurisdiction,” the senator told INQUIRER.net.
“Ang consensus at saka decision ko as chairman, I’ll give the members (of the committee) copies (of the addendum). Let them study and then we might consider next week, either kami-kami decide on it or call for him (de Jesus) para magpresenta sya, para wala syang masabi. Kung hindi man namin kabiliban yung pinagsasabi nya, at least nasabi nya sa amin, we give him a chance to be heard,” he added.
Sotto said the seven-man committee might decide even before their meeting next week whether or not to summon the complainant in the next hearing.
“Depende, we might decide before. I can always ask them, we’re only seven. I can always get the consensus of the majority,” he said.
He said the committee will discuss again all issues raised during the last hearing, such as whether or not the body should first decide if it has jurisdiction over the case or if it has to settle if the complaint was sufficient in form and substance.
“Lahat yun kasi meron syang kini-claim na may mga continuity, may continuation yung issue,” Sotto said but did not elaborate.
In the complaint, de Jesus has accused de Lima of betrayal of public, gross misconduct, serious misrepresentation and grievous negligence based on President Rodrigo Duterte’s allegations that she had allegedly collected drug money through her former driver. The complainant then sought the lady senator’s expulsion from office.
But De Lima, who served as Justice Secretary during the Aquino administration, had repeatedly denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade.