Private prosecutor to senators: Tell Miriam to 'tone down' | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

Private prosecutor to senators: Tell Miriam to 'tone down' | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

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(Updated 5 p.m.) The prosecutor who was cited for contempt for "disrespecting" Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that although he admits he did something wrong, the impeachment court should also ask the feisty senator to "tone down" in the future.

"To Senator Miriam Santiago, I'm sorry if I hurt her feelings. [But] I just want to give a message to the other members of the impeachment court that somebody has to give a message to her to tone down," private prosecutor Vitaliano Aguirre said in a report aired over GMA News TV's Balitanghali on Friday.

But in a text message to GMA News Online, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that "normally and as a matter of courtesy," senators don't caution their fellow senators unless the other is at the receiving end of the tirade.

"An ethics complaint may be in order except that the incident transpired in an impeachment hearing so that may be an issue as far as jurisdiction," Lacson said.

Aguirre issed his remark days after the Senate, sitting as the impeachment court, cited him for contempt for covering his ears while Santiago was bashing the prosecution panel for dropping the remaining five Articles of Impeachment.

When he took the floor, he admitted committing the act and said Santiago shouldn't treat the prosecutors in such a way.

"Ang pag-berate naman niya sa prosecution yun. I never heard her berate the defense. I know that I did wrong in doing that and I admit that, but sometimes, you have to commit a mistake, a little wrong... just to get your message across," Aguirre said.

"I hope the prosecution will understand what I've done that in my own little way I did it to benefit the prosecution," he added.



Aguirre had already expressed his intention to resign from the prosecution panel. He said he has already written his letter of resignation and a letter of apology to the impeachment court.

"I could be a liability now to the prosecution rather than an asset. I'm going to apologize to the impeachment court because I said that hindi naman tama lahat ng ginawa ko," he said.

The lawyer, meanwhile, refused to answer Santiago's tirade that he has mental disorder.

"Kanya-kanyang expertise yan eh... kaya ayoko nang patulan yan," he said.

Nothing personal

Meanwhile In a separate interview on GMA News TV's "News to Go" on Friday, Santiago said she has yet to talk to Aguirre, noting that the issue was not personal.

"Hindi naman yan kaso na kalaban ko siya, kalaban niya ako, kundi kaso na nilalabanan niya ang impeachment court," she said.



She explained that the Supreme Court had said that the power to cite for contempt was not vindictive but "corrective" in nature.

"Hindi naman sa gusto ko siyang gantihan, kundi sabi ng Korte Suprema, ang dapat nating sundin is the corrective principle or the preservative principle, ibig sabihin gumawa siya ng pagkakamali kaya kailangan turuan siya ng leksyon para hindi na niya gagawin ulit at hindi siya tutularan ng iba pa," said Santiago, a former regional trial court judge.

The senators are expected to decide Aguirre's punishment in a caucus next week. Santiago has said that she will not participate in the deliberation. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News


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