{"id":83198,"date":"2016-11-25T11:06:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T16:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=83198"},"modified":"2016-11-25T11:06:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T16:06:42","slug":"pimentel-congressman-urging-senate-cite-de-lima-contempt-lets-not-excited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/11\/25\/pimentel-congressman-urging-senate-cite-de-lima-contempt-lets-not-excited\/","title":{"rendered":"Pimentel on congressman urging Senate to cite De Lima in contempt: Let\u2019s not be too excited"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cThe<\/a>
\u201cThe House has not even charged her (De Lima) with anything and has not even come out with a final order. Let\u2019s wait and see what they\u2019ll do and cross the bridge when we get there,\u201d Sen. Koko Pimentel said. (Photo: Koko Pimentel\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014After a congressman urged the Senate on Thursday to cite Senator Leila de Lima in contempt for allegedly barring former aide and alleged drug money bagman Ronnie Dayan from testifying at the House of Representatives (HoR), Senate President Aquilino \u201cKoko\u201d Pimintel III reminded the House members to observe the rule of law.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come they (Congress) want the Senate to act as if there is a final determination of the actual facts? Let us not be too excited,\u201d Pimentel told reporters in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the House do what they have to do, observe due process, observe proper procedure, then give the Senate the official result of their findings,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pimentel made this remark after House Majority Leader Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo \u201cRudy\u201d Fari\u00f1as said that Dayan\u2019s claim that De Lima prevented him from testifying in the House could make her liable for contempt.<\/p>\n

Another congressman, Kabayan Partylist Rep. Harry Roque, like Fari\u00f1as, also urged the Senate to cite her in contempt and urged De Lima to resign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe House has not even charged her with anything and has not even come out with a final order. Let\u2019s wait and see what they\u2019ll do and cross the bridge when we get there,\u201d Pimentel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have our own rules. For a member of the House to tell the Senate to do something, do your thing first before you ask us to do something,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pimentel, meanwhile, denied that the allegations against De Lima affected the integrity of the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 24 senators. We have our own lives, we have our own actions. Some probably beat a red light but is it the fault of the Senate?,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also expressed confidence that despite the allegations against his colleague and former lawyer, she would be able to defend herself.<\/p>\n

Dayan, in a House inquiry into the culpability of De Lima in the illegal drug trade, claimed that his former boss indeed accepted money from suspected Visayan drug lord Kerwin Espinosa.<\/p>\n

De Lima, however, has repeatedly denied these allegations, saying that the witnesses were only forced to destroy her reputation.<\/p>\n

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

MANILA\u2014After a congressman urged the Senate on Thursday to cite Senator Leila de Lima in contempt for allegedly barring former …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":77080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83198","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=83198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}