Sen. Trillanes’ position on ethics case of Sen. Villar

Posted by Ellen Tordesillas at ellen tordesillas.com (February 1, 2010)

1. This is NOT my fight and this should not be the people’s fight as well. Our fight should be with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and we should not be distracted from this. She’s about to appoint a new AFP Chief of Staff and a new Chief Justice in March. These appointments and how they will be done (particularly for the CJ) would be indicators of whether she has plans of stepping down or not. Aside from these, the prospect of the failure of elections scenario is still up in the air. In short, anything that deflects attention from her is playing according to her script. We must always remain vigilant and must never underestimate her.

2. It is a graft case and not an ethics case. Bulk of the evidence presented dealt with acts committed as early 1999 when Sen. Villar was still a congressman and during his first term as Senator. I believe that ethics cases should only cover acts committed after the mandate was given which, in this case, is 2007. With that, the only evidence left would be the double insertion in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). The problem is, the draft of the GAA was approved and presented to the plenary by the Finance Committee which was then headed by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. Said GAA was later on approved by the majority in the Senate. Therefore, assuming there were double insertions, it was the responsibility of Sen. Enrile’s staff to scrutinize the GAA and correct all anomalies and typo errors before being approved by Sen. Enrile. When it was approved by Sen. Enrile and presented to the plenary, it now became the responsibility of each Senator to scrutinize it again before approving it. Therefore, all those who voted for the approval of the GAA became equally liable for that double insertion.

An ethics case is similar to an honor violation being tried by the Honor Committee in PMA. Regardless, whether you have been caught shoplifting or was expelled for cheating before you became a cadet, only acts or honor violations committed as a cadet are covered or considered by the Honor Committee.
My recommendation, therefore, is to have this case filed before the Ombudsman so that all the evidence can be considered and the appropriate penalties be meted out. If the ulterior motive is to destroy the credibility of Sen. Villar in relation to his candidacy then it should have the same impact since the media can always cover it there. Otherwise, if it’s done in the Senate, it would not only undermine the said institution (which, ironically, everybody claims to protect) but also create a very dangerous precedent.

3. Sen. Noynoy Aquino should have taken the moral high ground by abstaining from the proceedings. Sen. Aquino has been painted as the “moral choice” and one way to affirm this is by publicly stating that in order not to be perceived as being involved in the political harassment of a fellow candidate for president, he would just abstain from the entire proceedings. Sen. Aquino is in a position to take the election campaigning to a higher plane and must do so at every turn.