“Why is the Justice Secretary invoking the Anti-Wiretapping Law? Is he admitting to that the text conversation is real?”
So said Senator Risa Hontiveros in a statement on Wednesday, mentioning Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre seemingly confirmed to them the authenticity of his text conversation caught inadvertently by somebody’s camera by trying to skirt the issue with long statements and convoluted legal arguments.
“The Justice Secretary accuses me of indecency and being unethical. There is nothing more indecent and unethical than being caught red-handed plotting against a senator during a Senate hearing inside the Senate,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
“Mukhang kailangan magbuklat ni Secretary Aguirre ng dictionary at i-review kung ano ang kahulugan ng decency,” she added.
Hontiveros also corrected justice secretary on his statement regarding the said issue, saying that there was no violation of his privacy and no intent to tap or intercept his messages.
“The law is clear. What is prohibited is willfully and knowingly committing any acts constituting wiretapping. What happened can simply be likened to overhearing a conversation by a careless person talking loudly in public. In this case, it was a text conversation, which was inadverdently caught by someone’s camera lens,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros, moreover, said that it was ironic for Aguirre to protect the right of privacy when he disregarded rights when he “unnecessarily” made public the personal life of Senator Leila de Lima, followed by a threat of showing her alleged sex videos.
On the issue of text message, Hontiveros said, “I find it funny that some of his defenders say that the text conversation is fake. If that is the case, how can I or the person who accidentally took the picture be liable for “wiretapping” a fake text conversation?”
“Clearly, Secretary Aguirre is shooting blanks. Pilit nagpapalusot. Sa hinaba-haba ng kanyang paliwanag, hindi niya masagot ang simpleng tanong, totoo ba o hindi ang text conversation kung saan nabisto siya na nakikipagkuntsabahan sa mga grupo para lutuin ang mga kasong isasampa laban sa oposisyon? That is the real issue here,” she concluded.
