Defense motion seeking Angara inhibition ‘unfair’—Rep. Tañada

Senator Edgardo Angara. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Prosecution panel members on Monday described as “unfair” the motion to inhibit filed by the defense against Senator Edgardo Angara on the basis of his relation with prosecution spokesman Aurora Representative Sonny Angara.

Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada told reporters in a press conference Monday that “it’s unfair to both of them” to think they don’t have separate minds despite being father and son.

He described it as a “desperate move by the defense to try to impute certain malicious thoughts in the people’s minds that both don’t have independent minds to make certain decisions.”

Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo questioned the timing of the motion to inhibit and described it as “like an ambush.”

“This particular motion is certainly filed at a time which we feel is very suspicious. They could have filed it early on,” Quimbo said.

He said that the bulk of the argument in the motion to inhibit was focused on the blood relations between prosecution spokesman Sonny Angara and his father, senator-judge Edgardo Angara.

“If they suspected about ([their relationship), they should have filed (the motion) on the onset,” Quimbo said.

He added that Senator Angara’s questioning during the trial was not biased for the prosecution and that it was actually critical of the prosecution.

“We don’t see any reason why it’s only being done now except for the fact that obviously they have been planning to do it,” Quimbo said.

Defense spokesman Rico Paolo Quicho said in a separate briefing that they filed the motion to inhibit on the grounds of a possible “conflict of interest” situation.

He said that it was filed only now because the “facts, documents and evidence that will prove our motion only became clear now.”

Quicho denied allegations that politics was the issue behind the filing of the motion.

“We look highly upon Senator Angara and Representative Angara. It never crossed our minds to make it a political issue,” Quicho said.