Sen. Pangilinan hit the show-cause order issued to Sen. De Lima by a House of Representatives panel.
PANGILINAN – The current interim president of the Liberal Party, Sen. Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan, revealed his side on the show-cause order issued by the House to Sen. Leila De Lima.
Sen. Leila De Lima and his former driver, bodyguard and lover, Ronnie Dayan, has been on news reports recently after Dayan was captured and he pinned down Sen. De Lima in his testimony.
Dayan, the alleged ‘bagman’ of Sen. De Lima, was arrested in the province of La Union. Based on another report, a tip from a farmer who later on got a reward money amounting to P1-M led to his arrest.
As he laid down his claims, Dayan disclosed that the Senator has been receiving money from the drug personality of Eastern Visayas, Kerwin Espinosa. Espinosa is the son of the late mayor of Leyte, Rolando Espinosa Sr., who died recently while in the custody of the authorities.
Sen. De Lima absolutely denied the allegations of Dayan and Espinosa against her. Aside from the drug-involvement allegations, another matter faced by the Senator as of the present is the show-cause order that was recently issued to her by the House.
The show-cause order was issued to get the side of the Senator regarding the allegation that she advised Ronnie Dayan not to appear before the inquiry through Dayan’s daughter based on a previous news report.
In a recent news report in ABS-CBN News, it stated that Sen. Francis Pangilinan aired out his stand on the show-cause order issued by the House to Sen. De Lima.
Sen. Pangilinan told ANC’s Beyond Politics, “[There] has to be interparliamentary courtesy and recognition that we are co-equals and therefore, as co-equals, we respect our processes.”
Furthermore, the Senator also expressed that process ‘based on the rule of the law’ should be observed in determining a misconduct and that a punishment follows a guilty entity.
He added, “If you wish, if you have a case against De Lima, file it… Kami rin, kung may isyu kami sa isang congressman, hindi kami, hindi namin siya papaarestuhin o ipapatawag.”
[If we senators have an issue with a congressman, we won’t have him arrested or called.]
The current interim president of the Liberal Party said that other senators of their group have already issued a joint-statement regarding the order issued by the House to one of their members.