Imee sees no conflict of interest in Senate panel chairmanship, Bongbong run

Senator Imee Marcos sees no conflict of interest in her chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reform and People's Participation and her brother Ferdinand Jr.'s candidacy for president in Eleksyon 2022.

Imee made the remark amid calls for her to quit the chairmanship of the panel, which is conducting an investigation into the alleged data breach into the systems of automated election system service provider Smartmatic.

"Palagay ko wala namang conflict of interest dahil wala namang kandidato na gusto madaya. Lahat ng botante gusto ng fair and free election so I think with that, makikita natin na trabaho lang to and we're trying to work really hard," Imee said in a radio interview.

(For me, there is no conflict of interest because no candidate wants to lose because of cheating. All voters want a fair and free election. So I think with that, we can see that we are just doing our job and we are trying to work really hard.)

The lawmaker said  other members of the committee are also candidates for the 2022 national and local elections.

"Ang vice-chair ko si Sen. Ping Lacson. 'Yung iba may kanya-kanyang kandidato rin... Kasama ko si SP Sotto, kandidato rin," Imee said.

"Kasama ko rin ang ex-chairman, si Koko Pimentel, ex-chairman din 'yan. Iba naman ang kandidato rin niyan kaya karambola kami sa Senado," she added.

(My vice-chairman si Sen. Ping Lacson while the other members of the panel also support different candidates. I am with SP Sotto who is also a candidate. I am also working with ex-chairman Koko PImente who is also supporting another candidate.)

Lacson is running for president and Sotto is his running mate. Pimentel is backing the presidential bid of Senator Manny Pacquiao.

Earlier, election watchdog Kontra Daya urged Marcos to resign as the chairperson of the Senate panel which investigates the alleged security breach, due to possible "conflict of interest" and out of "delicadeza."

Kontra Daya convenor Professor Danilo Arao said Imee's situation was "further exacerbated" by her participation in several videos wherein she "pokes fun" at a particular presidential candidate.

"You can argue that she did the videos in the spirit of fun or you know, just for the heck of it but again, she is doing that particular video to help prop up the candidacy of her brother. So if the brother will not engage in negative campaigning, perhaps she is the one who is doing that dirty job so to speak," Arao said.

"So therein lies the problem. So if the one doing the dirty job was part of the Senate Committee on electoral reforms what does that say of the you know, delicadeza and the fact that there is a clear conflict of interest in that particular situation. So that is why it is prudent more than ever for her to resign as chair of Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms," he added.

He also called on other senators who are also running in the 2022 polls to inhibit from participating in the Senate probe.

"They cannot just say that they are just doing their job because they cannot separate their persona as a public official, as an elected official and as a candidate running in the 2022 polls," Arao said.

On Wednesday, Lacson and Sotto rejected calls to recuse themselves from the Senate investigation on the alleged security breach of election data. —NB, GMA News