Senate committee report flags De Lima, Trillanes for 'unparliamentary conduct' 

A Senate committee report said senators Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV should be held accountable for their alleged "unparliamentary conduct" during the upper assembly's probe on extrajudicial killings (EJKs).

The report was prepared by Senators Richard Gordon and Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate committees on justice and human rights, and public order and dangerous drugs, respectively.

Eleven senators have signed the report but both Trillanes and De Lima did not sign it.

"As elected Senators of the Republic, we must at all times conduct ourselves as honorable men and women observing the highest ethical standards in the performance of our duties," part of the 101-page report said.

Citing the rules of the Senate, the report said "acts and language which offend a senator or any public institution shall be deemed unparliamentary."

The report noted De Lima's supposed deliberate "material concealment" of information concerning a kidnapping case filed against confessed hitman Edgar Matobato.

It also noted that the committee, which De Lima chaired until she was ousted by majority of the senators, was used to "retaliate" against President Rodrigo Duterte after De Lima was dragged into allegations of being involved in the illegal drug trade.

"To defend herself and retaliate against the President, she led the Justice committee to target Duterte and show his propensity for EJK, by presenting and using a lying, inconsistent and unreliable witness," it said.

On Trillanes, the report cited the incident where the senator supposedly allowed Matobato to leave the Senate premises before the hearing was suspended.

Trillanes had been securing the safety of Matobato since the witness appeared before the Senate probe.

"When it was clear that Matobato's failure to reveal the real accused would be cornered with the damaging information presented by the NBI, he was conveniently whisked away," the report said.

After De Lima and Trillanes supposedly apologized to Gordon for their acts, they continued to complain about how the hearing was being conducted before the media.

"All these manifest unparliamentary conduct committed by senators De Lima and Trillanes for which both should be held accountable in order to preserve the integrity of the Senate," it concluded.

The committee report said there was no proof to indicate that the recent rampant killings are state-sponsored.

It also said that the committee did not find any evidence to prove that the so-called Davao Death Squad exists, contrary to Matobato's accusations. — VVP, GMA News