{"id":117319,"date":"2017-09-12T02:22:59","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T06:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=117319"},"modified":"2017-09-12T02:22:59","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T06:22:59","slug":"hontiveros-on-aguirre-he-must-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/12\/hontiveros-on-aguirre-he-must-resign\/","title":{"rendered":"Hontiveros on Aguirre: He must resign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hontiveros<\/a>
Hontiveros regarded Aguirre\u2019s behavior as unethical and unbecoming of a member of the civil service. (Photo<\/a> by Joseph Vidal via Senate of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dismayed Senator Hontiveros called for the resignation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre saying that the justice secretary violated the Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.<\/p>\n

All these lead me to the conclusion that there is no other respectable option but to call on the Justice Secretary to resign,” this was the conclusion of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros during her privilege speech at the senate on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Aguirre undermines our justice system, and his continued stay in office is a vulgar insult to the Filipino people and our efforts for a more just society,\u201d Senator Hontiveros stressed.<\/p>\n

In her privilege speech, Hontiveros presented enlarged digital photos of Justice Secretary exchanging text messages with a “Cong. Jing”, the senator identified that it was the Former Negros Oriental Representative Jacinto \u201cJing\u201d Paras, who is a member of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).<\/p>\n

In the text message, \u201cNaturuan na ni Hontiveros ang testigo<\/em> [Hontiveros already coached the witness], her questions are leading questions,\u201d Cong. Jing\u2019s text message read.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery obvious, kaya nga<\/em> expedite natin ang<\/em> cases niyo <\/em>vs her [Very obvious, let\u2019s expedite your cases against her],\u201d Aguirred replied.<\/p>\n

Hontiveros said that anonymous source caught Aguirre texting during the senate hearing on the killing of the 17-year-old student Kian Lloyd Delos Santos. \u201cThe photographer was inadvertently able to capture the text message exchange on the screen of the phone of the DOJ Secretary.\u201d Hontiveros said.<\/p>\n

The lady senator said that she consulted with several photography experts, who all confirmed the authenticity of the digital photo.<\/p>\n

Hontiveros regarded Aguirre\u2019s behavior as unethical and unbecoming of a member of the civil service.<\/p>\n

“Is the DOJ Secretary is plotting a case against a sitting Senator while a Senate proceeding is going on, right inside the Senate session hall? Is Secretary Aguirre accusing me of witness manipulation? Kung kaya ito gawin ng<\/em> Justice Secretary sa isang<\/em> sitting Senator, ano pa kaya sa ibang mga mamamayang Pilipino<\/em>? [If he can do it against a sitting senator, what more to the Filipino citizens?] Hontiveros said.<\/p>\n

The Akbayan Senator also urged the senate to review the provisions of law both in the Constitution and in the Revised Penal Code on parliamentary immunities and privileges. \u201cCriminal cases are being used as weapons by the executive against the legislative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added,\u201dThe culture of political vindictiveness that allows Justice Secretaries to make a mockery of justice springs from the same poisonous well that encourages policemen to plant evidence, fabricate stories about their targets, and become cold-blooded killers.” Hontiveros added.<\/p>\n

Hontiveros said that she will not be surprised if the Justice Secretary and his henchmen from the VACC will file cases against her. She dared the Aguirre saying, \u201cIf the Justice Secretary wants to file cases against me, see you in court, Mr. Aguirre!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dismayed Senator Hontiveros called for the resignation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre saying that the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":117353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[23623,4943,15996],"class_list":["post-117319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-department-of-justice-doj-secretary-vitaliano-aguirre","tag-privilege-speech","tag-senator-risa-hontiveros","mauthors-michealina-vallarta-david","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}