JV Ejercito mulls ethics complaint vs Trillanes

Ejercito (left) said that he found Trillanes’ (right) comments “disrespectful and unparliamentary”. (PNA photos)

MANILA — A senator on Tuesday said that he wants colleague Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to face the Senate Ethics Committee for his “disrespectful” remarks about the Senate being a “lapdog” of the Duterte administration.

“Maybe it is high time that we refer to the Senate Ethics Committee Sen. Trillanes’ actions since he is becoming damaging to the institution, and becoming destructive to the country,” Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said in a statement.

Ejercito said that he found Trillanes’ comments “disrespectful and unparliamentary” and noted that he should be reminded that the Senate is a democratic institution.

“…We in the Senate debate issues instead of hurling insults; we vote instead of calling each other names when we disagree,” Ejercito said.

He pointed out that there were “23 independent minds duly elected in the Senate” that maintained respect for one another amid disagreements on a number of issues.

“I hope Senator Trillanes would do the same. I hope he will stop destroying this institution simply because he is rabidly against this administration,” he added.

Trillanes, for his part, said that he would welcome any ethics complaint filed against him.

“I would welcome any ethics complaint filed against me in the Senate,” Trillanes said in a separate statement.