{"id":120697,"date":"2017-10-02T03:48:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T07:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=120697"},"modified":"2017-10-02T03:48:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T07:48:41","slug":"aguirres-complaints-are-diversionary-tactics-hontiveros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/02\/aguirres-complaints-are-diversionary-tactics-hontiveros\/","title":{"rendered":"Aguirre\u2019s complaints are diversionary tactics\u2014Hontiveros"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Mr.<\/a>
“Mr. Secretary, it’s already game over,” Senator Risa Hontiveros told Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, in response to the wiretapping complaints he filed against her. (Photo by Ahyie Pe\u00f1aredondo<\/a> via Senator Risa Hontiveros\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines\u2014Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday dismissed Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II\u2019s wiretapping charges against her as a \u201cdesperate\u201d attempt to deflect public attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cases filed against me today by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre are a desperate attempt to deflect public attention away from his text conversation inadverdently captured by someone’s camera lens, which caught him red-handed plotting against me during a Senate hearing inside the Senate,\u201d Hontiveros said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Aguirre filed charges against Hontiveros before the Pasay City Prosecutor\u2019s office for allegedly violating Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Act when the senator released to the public a photo Aguirre texting Negros Occidental representative Jacinto Paras about expediting cases against Hontiveros.<\/p>\n

[READ<\/strong>: Aguirre files wiretapping complaint vs Hontiveros<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The photo was captured on September 5 while Aguirre was attending a Senate hearing on the death of 17-year-old Kian Delos Santos.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Aguirre was caught conspiring and instigating private individuals to file cases against a sitting Senator inside the Senate,\u201d Hontiveros said, stressing that Aguirre didn\u2019t deny the text conversation taking place.<\/p>\n

Aguirre told the Senate that the photo of him texting Paras was taken “intentionally, maliciously and unlawfully.”<\/p>\n

“It was never an inadvertent act, contrary to the claim of Senator Risa Hontiveros in her privilege speech. I was targeted, I was singled out and it was premeditated,” Aguirre said.<\/p>\n

Hontiveros denied Aguirre\u2019s allegations, adding that there were no laws breached.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the information of the Secretary, there was no intent to tap or intercept his messages. There was no reasonable expectation of privacy. The law is clear. What is prohibited is willfully and knowingly committing any acts constituting wiretapping,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pasay City Prosecutor\u2019s office, where Aguirre filed the complaint, operates under DOJ which Aguirre heads. Despite a possible conflict of interest, Aguirre assured Hontiveros of fair treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I could say is that the DOJ will treat these cases fairly and with justice, so Sen. Risa has nothing to fear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In spite of Aguirre\u2019s assurance, Hontiveros casted doubts on a fair trial the Justice Secretary promised.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi ni<\/em> Secretary Aguirre bibigyan daw niya ako ng <\/em>“magandang laban<\/em>.” Magandang laban o lutong Macau? Isa sa kasong sinampa sa akin ni<\/em> Secretary Aguirre ay kanyang hinain sa<\/em> prosecutor’s office na nasa ilalim ng kanyang<\/em> jurisdiction. [Secretary Aguirre said that he will give me a \u201cgood fight.\u201d A good fight or a rigged one? One of the cases pressed against me by Secretary Aguirre were filed in the prosecutor\u2019s office that\u2019s under his jurisdiction]. Maliwanag ang<\/em> [It\u2019s clear (that there is a)] conflict of interest. This also confirms the conspiracy hatched by Secretary Aguirre to “expedite” the filing of cases against me,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n

Hontiveros also called on Aguirre to stop \u201cmaking excuses\u201d and \u201chiding behind false charges\u201d and leave his post, instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Secretary, it’s already game over. Tapos na ang boksing. Bistong-bisto ka na. Buko ka na. Tama na ang pagpapalusot. Tama na ang pagtatago sa mga pekeng kaso. Panahon na para lisanin mo ang posisyon na lubos na dinungisan mo<\/em> [The boxing fight is over. You\u2019re obvious. You\u2019ve been exposed. Stop making excuses. Enough with hiding from false charges. It\u2019s time to clean the position that you had fully stained],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines\u2014Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday dismissed Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II\u2019s wiretapping charges against her as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":120701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145,16,95,483],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","category-politics","mauthors-katherine-padilla","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120697","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=120697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}