Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre (left) swears on his complaint affidavit against Sen. Risa Hontiveros before the Pasay City Prosecutors Office on Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Monday filed a criminal complaint before the Pasay Prosecutors Office against Senator Risa Hontiveros.
The complaint alleged that the senator violated Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Law for making public a photograph of his supposed text messages with a certain “Cong. Jing” whom she identified as former Negros Oriental Representative Jacinto Paras.
A similar complaint has been filed by Paras before the Office of the Ombudsman.
When asked why he filed the case at the Prosecutors Office instead of the Office of the Ombudsman, Aguirre said the National Prosecutor Service (NPS) has jurisdiction over the complaint.
“After further study, I came to the conclusion that it is the civil courts and the National Prosecution Service that have jurisdiction over the cases because the offenses were committed when Sen. Risa was not in the performance of her official duties,” Aguirre said in a text message.
On the question of propriety of the handling of the case since the NPS is under the DOJ, Aguirre said “I could not do anything because that is what the law says. It is the law that determines jurisdiction.”
“What I could say is that the DOJ will treat these cases fairly and with justice, so Sen. Risa has nothing to fear,” Aguirre added. /cbb
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