Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Thursday that Senator Richard Gordon has no credibility to chair the powerful Senate blue ribbon committee.
“Wala. Zero. Wala lang akong magagawa (None. Zero. I just can’t do anything about it) because I’m part of the minority but I have been calling for Senator Gordon be replaced as blue ribbon committee chairman,” Trillanes said in an ambush interview.
This after Trillanes traded insults with Gordon during the hearing on the P6.4 billion shabu shipment from China. Trillanes said the blue ribbon committee has turned into a “committee de abswelta” for objecting his proposal to summon Davao City Mayor Paolo Duterte and his brother-in-law Manases Carpio.
“Sinabi ko na nagiging committee de abswelto na itong Blue Ribbon Committee dahil imbes na hanapin natin [kung] sino talaga ‘yong mga mastermind, eh na-abswelto ‘no,” he said.
(I said that the Blue Ribbon Committee is becoming a “committee de abswelto” because instead of finding out who the masterminds are, they get exonerated.)
During the hearing, Duterte and Carpio were accused of having links with the “Davao group” operating within the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
“May mga ininvite ako dito na hindi name-mention, ininvite naman natin, pero itong dalawa na ito, unless sacred cows ang treatment ng committee na ito sa kanila, these people were mentioned, so ngayon, I’m just asking that these people be invited,” Trillanes said during the hearing.
(There are some people whom I invited that aren’t mentioned, we invited them, but two of them, unless they’re treated like sacred cows in this committee, they were mentioned, so I’m just asking that these people be invited.)
However, Gordon and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III opposed Trillanes’ motion saying that alleged broker Mark Taguba should first present solid evidence before Trillanes could demand the presence of Duterte and Carpio.
“Nakita niyo namang lahat, na hindi inaksyonan ‘yong aking motion pero nilatag ko lahat ‘yong premise para gawing basis ang pag-invite sa kanila.,” Trillanes told reporters.
(You all saw that they didn’t take action on my motion but I laid out the premise to make it as basis for my invitation for them.)
“Just to be clear, hindi sila lilitisin; kumbaga, na-mention ‘yong pangalan niyo, titignan natin what we can extract from them, so kung wala naman, eh ‘di wala,” he added.
(Just to be clear, they won’t be investigated; it’s just that their names were mentioned, let’s see what we can extract from them, and if it’s nothing, then it’s nothing.) Christia Marie Ramos, INQUIRER.net trainee/JE