MANILA — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II would file a libel complaint against Senator Risa Hontiveros after the lawmaker asked him to resign from his post and called him a “manufacturer of fake news” and “cook of fake cases”.
“Hindi na kailangan pag-aralan (referring to the filing of a complaint for libel). Very clear na defamatory. I saw and heard what she said,” Aguirre said, adding that the complaint would be filed “very soon”.
“You could see libel cases filed against her,” Aguirre added.
Hontiveros, in a statement, said Aguirre is a manufacturer and peddler of fake news.
The senator also called him “cook of fake cases and now, a reliable friend of criminal masterminds, extrajudicial killers and drug lords” after the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the drug complaint filed against businessman Peter Lim, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, and several others and allowed the provisional admission of pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim-Napoles to the Witness Protection Program (WPP).
Last October, Aguirre filed a criminal complaint for violation of Republic Act NO. 4200 or the Anti-Wire Tapping Act against Hontiveros, John Doe and Peter Does before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Pasay City.
Aguirre has filed complaints for wiretapping stemming from Hontiveros’ privilege speech on Sept. 11, 2017 after she disclosed that she discovered a plot by the DOJ chief and former Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto “Jing” Paras to file a case against her.
Hontiveros presented a photo of what she claimed as the exchanged of text messages between Aguirre and Paras which she added was accidentally caught on camera by a journalist at a Senate hearing on the killing by members of the Caloocan police of Kian Loyd Delos Santos.
He also insisted that the lawmaker violated his right to privacy when she showed to the public the contents of said text messages.
Aguirre also filed an ethics complaint against Hontiveros before the Senate Ethics Committee for the latter making public his supposed text message with a former congressman.
In his complaint’s prayer, he wanted Hontiveros either suspended or expelled from the Senate noting that the senator and a photographer, whom she refused to name, conspired to take a photo of his supposed text conversation.
Aguirre earlier said that he would only quit if the President would ask him to do so, or if he felt he has lost his trust in any way. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
