Pimentel urges fellow senators: Respect each other, stop heckling

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. KRISTINE SABILLO/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Heckling a fellow senator is “foul,” Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Friday.

Pimentel cited in particular the heated exchange between Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano during Thursday’s hearing of the Senate committees on justice and public order on the alleged spate of extrajudicial killings in the country.

To stop Cayetano’s lengthy questioning on confessed assassin and witness Edgar Matobato, Trillanes moved to declare his colleague out of order. At one point, Trillanes had to turn off Cayetano’s mic to stop him from talking.

READ: Senators clash over questioning of confessed assassin at hearing

“Yung pinapatay pa yung microphone, yun po yung hindi magandang makita kasi ang Senado e legislative body po yan. Talagang ang mga weapons dyan mga salita kasi deliberative body talaga yan e (Turning off a fellow senator’s mic is an unacceptable manner because the Senate is a legislative body. Weapons are words because it is a deliberative body),” Pimentel said in an interview over CNN Philippines on Friday.

“Pero sana po wala na po yung physical interference, ng physical space ng tao na aabot ka at papatayin mo ung mikropono noong tao (But I hope there would be no more physical interference in the physical space of a senator to the point of turning off his mic),” he said.

Pimentel said that he did not like what he saw during the hearing and that he would express his sentiments to Trillanes when he sees him.

“Yun po yung mga hindi kanais-nais na makita natin pero yung argument okay po yun kasi deliberative body po kami. Ang aming weapons mga salita, mga words, mga argumento (That is the unacceptable manner we saw but the argument is okay because we are member of a deliberative body. Our weapons are words and arguments),” he said.

“So huwag lang po yung physically papatayin mo ng mikropono or habang nagsasalita parang bubulungan mo, parang hini-heckle mo. Kung sa basketball, yung kahit walang kontak ay foul na po yun (I hope turning off one’s mic or whispering to a fellow senator when he is speaking which seemed liked heckling won’t happen again. In basketball, even if there’s no contact, it’s foul),” the Senate leader added.

Pimentel then called on his colleagues to maintain their respect for each other to make sure that the work of the Senate would not be affected by any personal differences.

He said they might also have to read the rules again to find out what is parliamentary and unparliamentary conduct.

“Kasi kung wala kaming respeto sa isa’t isa mahirap po kaming maka-achieve ng anything (If we have no respect for each other, it would be difficult for us to achieve anything),” he said. RAM/rga