Tito Sotto confirms senators’ meeting with Duterte

Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III has confirmed that senators met President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang on Tuesday night, dzBB's Nimfa Ravelo has reported.

Sotto, however, said the meeting was not related to the forthcoming Senate inquiry into the claims made by retired policeman Arthur Lascañas against Duterte.

Asked in a text message whether there was a meeting with Duterte, Sotto replied, "Yes. Guaranteed not about Lascañas."

In an interview on "Unang Balita," Sotto said Duterte focused on handling the problem on illegal drugs and pending Cabinet confirmations at the Commission on Appointments, and asked for feedback on the killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo .

"Pinag-usapan namin, unang-una doon na kaagad sa handling ng drugs. Parang pinakikiramdaman niya kung ano ang sense namin dun sa dinali sa PNP (Philippine National Police) tapos tatakbo ng PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency), ano feedback on the ground sa AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines)," Sotto said.

"Tapos later on, napunta usapan sa CA, I can assure you he did not ask for any favor. Basta he leaves it up to us," he added.

"Tinatanong ko kasi yung sa mga nakapending sa CA na lima, anim yung medyo controversial na nakapending ngayon so he asked for no favors. Wala siyang sinasabi na 'wag i-confirm, wala rin siyang sinasabing i-confirm, na it's up to you," Sotto said.

Sotto said he also advised Duterte to designate PDEA as a supervisory body in the war on drugs, as stated in Republic Act No. 9165, which he authored.

A Malacañang official denied that Duterte met with some senators in Malacañang on Tuesday night.

Senator Leila De Lima earlier on Wednesday said that some senators were summoned to Malacañang on Tuesday night after the Senate in caucus voted to proceed with the investigation of Lascañas' claims.

Some senators had expressed reservations about again putting Lascañas before a Senate inquiry after he recanted his testimony in October, the one in which he denied claims by confessed hitman Edgar Matobato.

On Monday, Lascañas confirmed Matobato's allegations on the existence of the DDS and Duterte ordering its members to kill certain personalities.

Pressure from Malacañang?

On Tuesday night, senators voted to look into Lascañas claims.  In light of this, De Lima accused Malacañang of pressuring the senators to block the new Senate inquiry.

"Puwedeng bumaliktad, mag-abstain. Puwede rin yung ano...but hindi maganda yan. It won’t look good to those individual senators solely changing their votes from last night and also, the Senate as an institution because we know for a fact na may mga ipinatawag kagabi sa Palasyo," De Lima told reporters.

De Lima, however, did not name who went to Malacañang on Tuesday night.

"Hindi ko alam kung sino-sino talaga. Hindi ko kasi na-confirm so baka magkamali ako kaya I don’t want to say who are they," De Lima said.

Senator Richard Gordon, who has expressed his opposition to hearing Lascañas anew, said he wasn't in Malacañang on Tuesday night.

“I had a party last night. I had somebody from Geneva. I had retired ambassadors and other secretary of foreign affairs at the Red Cross last night," Gordon said.

Gordon has expressed doubt over Lascañas' credibility because of his recantation of his testimony before a Senate inquiry, in which he swore to tell the truth.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, whose Committee on Public Order had been tasked to hear Lascañas testimony, said Duterte seemed to be keeping his hands off the Senate inquiry.

"Wala. [Kung mayroon] eh 'di dapat may tumawag na sa akin," Lacson said when asked by reporters if there had been attempts from Malacañang to get in touch with him and influence the impending probe.

"Walang tumatawag eh. Walang pressure, walang persuasion. Wala whatsoever," the senator added. —with Joseph Tristan Roxas/NB/JST/KBK, GMA News