(Eagle News)– Chairman of the ethics committee and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III assured on Monday (December 12) an impartial probe on the ethics complaint filed by House leaders against Senator Leila De Lima.
“I’ve said that before, I will say it again. I will always be impartial. If you cannot be impartial, and chair [the] ethics [panel], better resign,” Sotto told reporters in an interview.
Sotto, along with ethics panel vice-chairman Senator Panfilo Lacson, and Senator Gringo Honasan, received the complaint filed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, and House justice committee chairman and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali.
Sotto said he will review the complaint before he gives recommendation to other members of the committee.
The senator said there was a possibility that De Lima and the complainants from the House of Representatives face each other in a hearing.
“Usually that’s what we have to do. Hindi pwedeng nakatalikod silang nagbabatuhan, mas maganda kung harapan,” Sotto said.
The complaint accuses De Lima of violating the law and the rules of Congress for advising her former driver and lover, Ronnie Dayan, to skip a congressional investigation.
Lacson said the penalty that could be imposed on De Lima range from as low as admonition to as high as expulsion.The complaint need four signatures out of the seven committee members before it can be forwarded for plenary action.
The complaint filed by House leaders is already the third filed against De Lima.
The first two accused De Lima of being involved in the illegal drug trade during her term as Secretary of Justice.
If the punishment is admonition, a simple majority is needed. If the complaint, however, warrants expulsion, it would need a two-thirds vote from the 24-member body.
De Lima is currently in the United States to receive an award and attend a speaking engagement in Germany after.
