‘Kaunting respeto naman’: Villar gets emotional, asks colleagues to stop attacks on absent senators
Sen. Camille Villar became emotional Wednesday as she appealed to her colleagues to stop attacking colleagues who are absent from the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, stressing that the senators being detained or otherwise unable to attend have not been convicted of any crime. Senate/screengrabMANILA — Sen. Camille Villar became emotional Wednesday as she appealed to her colleagues to stop attacking colleagues who are absent from the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, stressing that the senators being detained or otherwise unable to attend have not been convicted of any crime.
Villar made the manifestation in response to Sen. Erwin Tulfo’s earlier remarks concerning the absent senator-judges.
“I think we should be reminded that the senators that are being detained and who are not here right now, that is not their choice,” Villar said.
She said it was unfair to describe the absent senators as having committed plunder or theft because none of them had been convicted.
“I think it’s unfair to call them out that their crimes are of plunder and of theft because none of those senators have been convicted,” Villar said.
Villar appealed to her colleagues to observe mutual respect inside the impeachment court.
“And as the youngest member of this august body, can we stop it with these attacks on each other? We are senators of the Philippines. Let us give each other due respect,” she said.
“Let’s give Filipinos due respect. Hindi naman tayo pwedeng kung ano-ano na lang sinasabi natin dito tungkol sa mga colleagues natin, ‘di ba? Kunting respeto naman.”
Villar reiterated that the absent senators had not been proven guilty.
“Lahat naman po nang wala dito, hindi naman po sila napatunayan na may sala. Hindi po sila plunderer, hindi po sila magnanakaw, hindi po sila napatunayan na gano’n,” she said.
The issue of the absent senator-judges has become central to the debate over the number of votes needed to convict Duterte.
Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are currently detained over plunder cases.
Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa has been absent from the trial as he is in hiding while wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, while Sen. Loren Legarda is on medical leave.