Alan Peter to inhibit from hearing Senate ethics complaint vs sister Pia

As the chair of the Senate ethics committee, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said on Thursday that he will inhibit from any proceedings concerning the ethics complaint filed against his sister Senator Pia Cayetano.

 

"In the case of my sister wala naman ako choice kundi mag-inhibit. I think it is but logical that when that time comes I do not participate," Cayetano told reporters after the hearing of the Senate ethics committee on the establishment of its rules.

 

"This early, I'm saying that anything that will have a conflict of interest on my part [and which could] cloud my judgment, I will inhibit. Kung hihintayin ko pa na umabot doon sa case na iyon tapos dun ko lang sasabihin na mag-iinhbit ako marami nang speculation by that point in time," he added in another interview.

 

On Wednesday, a private citizen filed an ethics complaint against Pia citing two instances of alleged plagiarism in her speeches.

 

In a statement released Thursday, her office called these "rehashed allegations" which she had already answered before.

 

Alan Peter said that he didn't even talk to his sister ever since the complaint was filed on Wednesday.  

 

"Yung committee na ito ay committee on ethics. Integrity ng Senado ang importante dito. I will not do anything that will affect or diminish the integrity of the Senate but hindi ko pa rin pwede talikuran ang duty ko na pangunahan itong committee na ito," he said.

 

Because of this, he said he will let his vice chair handle his sister's case while he handles the other pending complaints, which he said will be tackled in the order they were filed. The members of the Senate ethics panel are Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Lito Lapid, and Joker Arroyo.  Sotto and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, as Senate officers, are ex officio members of the panel. It was not immediately known who sits as committee vice chair. Alan Peter said they would still have to decide on it.  "Wala akong impluwensya or anything how her case will be handled but I will handle the other cases," he said, adding that there are at least six pending ethics complaints before his committee.

 

He refused to name the senators who have pending ethics complaints but a group of bloggers and university professors had earlier filed a case against Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto also for allegedly plagiarizing parts of his speeches.

 

But a noted elections lawyer and another group have asked the same Senate panel to dismiss the ethics complaint against Sotto.

 

Sotto, for his part, said he thinks that the complaint against him will be immediately dismissed by the panel.

 

But Alan Peter assured the public that his committee would not dismiss the plagiarism-related cases just to save his sister.

 

"Hindi ako ganun magtrabaho at sister ko hindi rin ganun magtrabaho.  Kung ano ang tama tama kung ano ang mali kahit may tamaan sa amin so bato bato sa langit ang tamaan wag magagalit ang magiging rule ng ethics committee," he said.

 

Alan Peter said the Senate ethics committee can begin hearing the cases by the beginning of December after they have published their new rules. — RSJ, GMA News