Senate hearing replay of demolition telenovela–Binay spokesman

MIDDLE GROUND Sen. Leila de Lima tries to pacify her colleagues, Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, as tensions rise during the Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings. RICHARD A. REYES

As senators clashed over the testimony of a witness against President Rodrigo Duterte, the camp of former Vice President Jejomar Binay quietly watched what his spokesman called a “replay of the demolition telenovela” staged against the former official.

Binay was also investigated by the Senate for the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall 2 parking building.

READ: After 25 hearings, Senate panel says it’s done probing Binay

“What we saw Thursday at the Senate was a replay of the demolition telenovela against former Vice President Jejomar Binay: every rumor, half-truth, and hearsay broadcast or published; every accusation accepted and presented as truth–complete with dramatic pauses and gestures–by some senators,” Binay’s spokesman, Joey Salgado, said in a statement on Friday.

“Once again, a so-called investigation is being conducted in aid of demolition, not legislation. Once again, a political personality–this time no less than the President himself–has been declared guilty even before the start of the hearing. Once again, senators are lawyering for a witness, and the public is treated to a barrage of shocking but unsubstantiated statements on live radio and television,” Salgado said.

The spokesman said no family should go through the “harrowing experience” of the Binay family at the hands of Senate inquisitors.

“But no less than President Duterte and his family have been pilloried on live television by senators with patently political motives. At mukhang warm up pa lang ito,” he said.

Salgado was apparently referring to the testimony of confessed hitman Edgar Matobato during the joint hearing of Senate committees of justice and human rights, and public order on the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country.

Matobato alleged to be part of a death squad, which he said was instructed by Duterte, then Davao City Mayor, to kill criminals and enemies.

READ: ‘Duterte ordered us to kill’

Salgado reiterated Binay’s position that the Senate does not have “the competence or the authority to determine criminal liability.”

“Only the courts can determine guilt or innocence, not the Senate, and specially not senators with political motives,” said the spokesman.

“Hukuman lamang ang makapagsasabi kung may kasalanan o inosente ang isang inakusahan. Ngunit asahan natin na gaya ng paninira nila kay VP Binay, pahahabain nila ito dahil ang konsepto ng rule of law at due process ay binabago ng ilang senador batay sa kanilang political agenda,” he said.

(Only the court can say whether an accused is guilty or innocent. But we expect that, like the ruination that they did to VP Binay, they will prolong this because some senators alter concept of the rule of law and due process based on their political agenda.)

Salgado said Thursday’s hearing at the Senate was a “page from the Liberal Party (LP) playbook, with a minor casting change: It’s now De Lima and Trillanes as BFFs, with Senator Cayetano as the spurned ex-friend.”

De Lima is Senator Leila de Lima, who is leading the probe on killings as chair of the justice committee and an LP member, while Trillanes and Cayetano are Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Cayetano.

It was Trillanes, who initiated the Senate probe against Binay, while Cayetano actively participated in the hearings.

“Having said that, we cannot help but be amused by the antics of Senators Trillanes and Cayetano,” Salgado said.

“Cayetano’s conversion into a born-again advocate of due process and the rule of law is hilarious, considering that he lawyered for the accusers of VP Binay during the Blue Ribbon Sub-committee hearings. At least, Trillanes was true to form as the Session Hall bully, this time intimidating his ertswhile BFF. These two deserve each other,” the spokesman added. CDG/rga

READ: Senators clash over questioning of confessed assassin at hearing