Jeff
12-04-2007, 02:01 PM
The Manila Standard Today
Senate probe of Trillanes gains ground
Dec. 4, 2007
By Fel V. Maragay
The move of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago for a Senate inquiry into Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for “unruly behavior” has gained ground as Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan expressed his support for it.
Santiago yesterday filed Senate Resolution 228 urging the Senate committee to conduct an inquiry on the matter and to recommend that Trillanes be punished for disorderly behavior and unparliamentary and language by either suspending or expelling him.
The resolution was filed even as opposition senators hesitated to pursue the investigation and impose disciplinary sanctions on Trillanes on the ground that such course of action should be left to the court.
Pangilinan, who is not a member of the majority or minority, said Trillanes should be held accountable for the siege of Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.
“Senator Trillanes himself said upon his surrender that he was willing to face the consequences of his acts. The Senate should take his word for it and have him face the music.”
But Pangilinan said that while Trillanes should be held liable for his unparliamentary acts, the Arroyo administration should likewise be held accountable for its “illegal acts” such as the arrest of mediamen who covered the Makati standoff and the subsequent imposition of a curfew.
In her resolution, Santiago urged the Senate to express the sense of its members that “it is an unparliamentary act for a senator to lead an attempted coup d’etat against the government and calling for his proper punishment.”
But Senate President Manuel Villar said that since new criminal charges have been filed by the government against Trillanes with the Makati Regional Trial Court as an offshoot of the Makati incident, the Senate should no longer delve into the matter.
“We are not paying too much attention on that issue because it is not easy to handle a complaint against a fellow senator. So the senators are not hot over this issue and are not inclined to spend their time on it,” Villar said.
Senator Rodolfo Biazon expressed the opinion that the Senate should not pre-empt the investigation being conducted by the Executive branch and the litigation being pursued before the Judiciary on the charges against Trillanes.
“We should draw a distinction between the jurisdiction of the Judiciary insofar as criminal aspect is concerned, and the jurisdiction of the Senate with regard to the parliamentary aspect of the acts of Senator Trillanes. Maybe, we will step into the case when it is time to take up the parliamentary aspect,” Biazon said.
Remarks:
I think our good senator and a "mista" should learn more about the book of Sun Tzu. The famous quote that I can't forget is that " Don't go to war if you can't win the battle"...
If there are things need to be change in the system do it in a moral and honorable manner.
Senate probe of Trillanes gains ground
Dec. 4, 2007
By Fel V. Maragay
The move of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago for a Senate inquiry into Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for “unruly behavior” has gained ground as Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan expressed his support for it.
Santiago yesterday filed Senate Resolution 228 urging the Senate committee to conduct an inquiry on the matter and to recommend that Trillanes be punished for disorderly behavior and unparliamentary and language by either suspending or expelling him.
The resolution was filed even as opposition senators hesitated to pursue the investigation and impose disciplinary sanctions on Trillanes on the ground that such course of action should be left to the court.
Pangilinan, who is not a member of the majority or minority, said Trillanes should be held accountable for the siege of Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.
“Senator Trillanes himself said upon his surrender that he was willing to face the consequences of his acts. The Senate should take his word for it and have him face the music.”
But Pangilinan said that while Trillanes should be held liable for his unparliamentary acts, the Arroyo administration should likewise be held accountable for its “illegal acts” such as the arrest of mediamen who covered the Makati standoff and the subsequent imposition of a curfew.
In her resolution, Santiago urged the Senate to express the sense of its members that “it is an unparliamentary act for a senator to lead an attempted coup d’etat against the government and calling for his proper punishment.”
But Senate President Manuel Villar said that since new criminal charges have been filed by the government against Trillanes with the Makati Regional Trial Court as an offshoot of the Makati incident, the Senate should no longer delve into the matter.
“We are not paying too much attention on that issue because it is not easy to handle a complaint against a fellow senator. So the senators are not hot over this issue and are not inclined to spend their time on it,” Villar said.
Senator Rodolfo Biazon expressed the opinion that the Senate should not pre-empt the investigation being conducted by the Executive branch and the litigation being pursued before the Judiciary on the charges against Trillanes.
“We should draw a distinction between the jurisdiction of the Judiciary insofar as criminal aspect is concerned, and the jurisdiction of the Senate with regard to the parliamentary aspect of the acts of Senator Trillanes. Maybe, we will step into the case when it is time to take up the parliamentary aspect,” Biazon said.
Remarks:
I think our good senator and a "mista" should learn more about the book of Sun Tzu. The famous quote that I can't forget is that " Don't go to war if you can't win the battle"...
If there are things need to be change in the system do it in a moral and honorable manner.