The Senate may convene into a committee of the whole to tackle the ethics complaint against Senator Leila de Lima should there be questions on the impartiality of a panel tasked to handle the case, Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said on Thursday.
Sotto said the convening of a committee of the whole is just one option available to him as chairman of the Senate committee on ethics tasked to look into the complaint filed against De Lima by leaders of the House of Representatives.
The complaint stemmed from De Lima’s advice to her former aide and partner Ronnie Dayan not to attend the House probe on the alleged proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as Justice Secretary.
“As chair, I will make sure we are fair,” Sotto said in a text message when sought for comment on De Lima’s appeal for fairness from her peers in the committee.
READ: De Lima appeals for fairness from peers
And on De Lima’s statement that those affected by allegations against her should inhibit from the ethics hearing, Sotto said the call for inhibition should work both ways.
“Shall we ask friendlies to inhibit too?” he asked.
“If and when the committee is allegedly compromised either way, I have the option to bring it to plenary to act as a committee of the whole. I have many options,” the Majority Leader added.
De Lima earlier admitted that she was “not sure” about the fairness of some of her peers, noting that some of them have shown “hostility” to her.
“I have to be honest, I’m not sure about some of them, because some of them have shown some hostility against me lalo na nung ongoing pa lang yung hearings, yung sa Matobato hearings, yung sa mga ganun (especially when the hearings on Matobato were ongoing) and some other issues,” she said in an interview at the Senate Wednesday.
She was referring to confessed assassin Edgar Matobato, who has testified in the Senate accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of allegedly ordering the killings of some people in Davao City when he was still its mayor. CDG/rga