SENATE Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that members of the opposition were getting threats amid the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Without giving details, Cayetano, who is facing investigation related to alleged irregularities in reclamation projects in Taguig City and the Philippines’ 2019 hosting of the Southeast Asian Games, said it was obvious who is threatening members of the minority.
“It wouldn’t make sense if those in the opposition are the ones threatening fellow members of the opposition, would it?” he told reporters.
Cayetano said the moves are connected to discussions on the voting threshold for Duterte’s conviction amid the absence of several senators from the proceedings.
He cited Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s supposed pronouncement that the impeachment trial of Duterte should be finished by December.
“The changing of the numbers, who is being charged? Those in the opposition, when they move to the administration, isn’t it obvious to you, guys? You’re in the media,” he said.
A two-thirds vote of “all members of the Senate,” or 16 out of 24, is needed to convict an impeachable officer. However, the Senate impeachment court is set to tackle the possible lowering of this constitutional threshold, citing the inability of absent senators to vote.
Sens. Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta remain absent from the chamber due to detention in connection with separate nonbailable cases.
Sen. Loren Legarda is also the subject of an Ombudsman probe involving a plunder complaint, while Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s whereabouts remain unknown amid an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.
Sought for comment, Lacson said that if his anti-corruption crusade is intimidating the corrupt, then he must be doing something good for the country.
“If my fight against corruption intimidates the corrupt, I must be doing something right and good for the country,” Lacson said in a social media post.
Lacson and his staff have submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman at least 45 case studies backed by official documents detailing “systemic anomalies” in flood control infrastructure projects.
The Office of the Ombudsman is now conducting a fact-finding investigation into the allegations involving the projects in Taguig.
Lacson and his team have sent to the Ombudsman several pieces of evidence they have gathered so far on the illegal reclamation and infrastructure projects in Taguig City.
