Trillanes to slap Gordon with an ethics suit too

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday said he will also file an ethics complaint against Senator Richard Gordon over “unparliamentary and unethical acts” as senator and chairman of the blue ribbon committee.

Trillanes said this in a privilege speech a day after Gordon filed an ethics complaint against him.

“Normally, I am not the whining type and could have easily let these things pass so I could focus on the more important issues at hand. But in the spirit of justice and fairness, at the appropriate time, I’d be filing an ethics case against Senator Gordon for his unparliamentary and unethical acts as senator and chairman of the blue ribbon committee,” he said.

Trillanes also defended the remarks he uttered during last week’s blue ribbon committee hearing on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment, where he engaged in a heated argument with Gordon.

Trillanes said the terms “lawyering” or “committee de abswelto” are not considered offensive language “by any standard.”

“My standard for offensive language is this. If I say a word or phrase to a person and that person would instantly slap or punch or get mad at me, then that is clearly an offensive word or phrase. Like the ‘F’ word or Duterte’s favorite PI for example,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes then recalled how several arguments between senators in the past did not end up in filing of ethics complaints.

He first cited heated debate between former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and former Senator and now Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano in 2013, when the rift between the two became personal.

Trillanes also mentioned the controversial “na-ano” remark of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, referring to single mom former Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, during a Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing last May.

“Iniisip ko at that time, ie-expel o isu-suspend ko ang isang senador dahil lang dun? Hindi ko minamaliit yung pagka-offend ng mga kababaihan, pero mas mabigat sa 'kin yung mandato ng taong bayan na naghalal sa kanya,” Trillanes said.

“Ngayon, ‘lawyering at comite de absuelto’ lang na si Sen. Gordon lang ang na-offend, ipapa-expel, ipapa-suspend or even ire-reprimand ako? Parang hindi yata tama yun,” he added.

Trillanes also vowed to expose Gordon’s alleged corrupt acts as chairman of the Philippine Red Cross organization.

Gordon took offense that Trillanes dragged the name of the Red Cross in his speech.

“Be careful. You can hurt me but not the movement,” Gordon told Trillanes. “He can accuse me of corruption, that is his privilege. But do not drag the Red Cross especially when there is no proof of that.”

“If he wants to file charges against me, he may do so. It’s a free country, I am ready to answer that,” Gordon added.

By the end of his speech, Trillanes announced that he will be stepping down as a member of the ethics committee “so as not to influence the case” against him.

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Trillanes will likely be replaced by Senator Bam Aquino.

The session was suspended immediately after Trillanes’ speech and the interpellations, with Sotto saying that “the climate does not feel good. —JST/KVD/KBK, GMA News