Aguirre: Hontiveros on a fishing expedition against me in pastillas probe

Former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Monday accused Senator Risa Hontiveros of "witch-hunting" and going on a "fishing expedition" against him in her investigation of the "pastillas scheme" at the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Claiming that there is no evidence connecting him to the bribery scheme, Aguirre said Hontiveros wanted to retaliate against him for the wiretapping complaint he filed against her in 2017.

He made the statement when asked for response to Hontiveros saying that he is still a "person of interest" in her committee's search for the "protector" of the alleged leaders of the pastillas scheme.

Hontiveros also said Monday that Aguirre issued a department order in 2017 that "opened the floodgates to very lax oversight on the VUA (visa upon arrival) and led to an institutionalization of that one-stop shop of corruption right in the Bureau of Immigration."

Aguirre claimed in response that Hontiveros "could not accept the fact that up to this late stage of the hearing of her committee, not a scintilla of evidence was presented to show my involvement in the so-called pastillas scheme."

He said the whistleblowers, two immigration officers who claimed to be foot soldiers of the pastillas group, never implicated him. He claimed that only Hontiveros and columnist Ramon Tulfo mentioned his name in Senate hearings.

"Tulfo's evidence are all hearsay or otherwise inadmissible but they seem very pleasant to the ears of Sen. Hontiveros," he said. He also claimed Tulfo is "in hiding" from an arrest warrant.

"She (Hontiveros) refused to accept my innocence because she wanted to get back at me for filing a case against her for violation of RA 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping when she violated my constitutional right by photographing the messages in my cell phone during a Senate Hearing," Aguirre said.

Aguirre sued Hontiveros following the disclosure of his supposed text exchanges with former Negros Oriental representative Jacinto Paras during a Senate inquiry in 2017.

The senator had claimed that she discovered through a photo of a text message that Aguirre and Paras were planning to file cases against her.

Aguirre said Monday that the case is being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman after being forwarded there by the Pasay prosecutor's office.

"Sen. Hontiveros is engaged in witch-hunting and fishing expedition against me and this is the reason why she did not want to end the hearing of her committee. She obviously is enjoying basking in the limelight," he said.

"To Sen. Hontiveros, my message to you is: You are barking at the wrong tree! Happy hunting! BRING IT ON!!" he added.

Aguirre has previously denied backing the supposed syndicate that allegedly allowed Chinese nationals to enter the country without going through the proper immigration process for a fee.

He has threatened to sue Tulfo, who had linked him to the scheme, over his "absolute lies and a complete fabrications."—AOL, GMA News