Bam demands public apology from Aguirre

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV is demanding a public apology from Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for making reckless allegations about his and other opposition lawmakers’ supposed link to the Maute group’s siege of Marawi City.

Aguirre had accused Aquino, along with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano and Ronald Llamas, political adviser of former president Benigno Aquino III, of being involved in the Marawi conflict.

Aguirre claimed they made a visit to local leaders last May 2, three weeks before the fighting broke out.

Before a news forum, Aquino presented proof of his whereabouts on May 2, which made it impossible for him to be in Marawi as claimed by Aguirre.

On that day, Aquino said he was a graduation speaker at the Philippine International Convention Center in the morning and attended the Senate plenary session in the afternoon.

Trillanes, for his part, showed the journal of the Senate for May 2 that recorded his attendance in the plenary session just like Aquino.

“What does this all mean? All the facts are here and it is not hard to find them. And yet the secretary of justice, instead of doing the proper research, the proper inquiries as to where we were, came out with these statements. That is probably the height of irresponsibility. It is very irresponsible for Secretary Aguirre to make those statements when it is so easy to find out the truth,” Aquino said.

Aquino said he has also received support from the administration, including Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who had told him “this is too absurd to be believed.”

According to Aquino, he was at a social event last Wednesday night where other senators were also in attendance, including Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Loren Legarda, who both said that they will vouch for him.

Aquino noted his colleagues were upset about the allegations made by Aguirre and in fact, Legarda called up Aguirre to seek clarification on the matter.

Aguirre later claimed the media misquoted him, which he further clarified with Aquino when Legarda passed the phone to him.

Aquino said Aguirre apologized to him over the phone and told him that because of the sheer number of reports he has been receiving, he got confused with some of the information.

Aquino said Aguirre promised to publicly clarify the statements he made and issue an apology yesterday.

So far, Aguirre has yet to issue the apology to Aquino and the other personalities he wrongly implicated.

Aquino said there was clearly a move by Aguirre and the administration in general to implicate the political opposition, particularly Liberal Party members, to alleged efforts to destabilize the government.

By taking part in the spreading of fake news, Aquino said Aguirre has not only damaged his reputation, but also put his security at risk and further muddled the situation in Marawi City.

He said some of his friends have advised him to take legal action against Aguirre, which he said he is considering.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said it was “the height of recklessness on the part of the justice secretary” to cast aspersions on his colleagues without any credible basis to support them.

“His insinuation against our colleagues in the minority is very unfair. Secretary Aguirre should not only retract his statements. A public apology is in order,” Drilon said.                  

Drilon said Aguirre based his accusations on information sourced from social media.

“Records don’t lie. If only Secretary Aguirre has respect for the truth, he could have easily verified his ‘intel report’ that he got from Facebook before making unfounded accusations,” he added.

Aguirre himself had announced the government is going to run after sources of fake news.

Drilon said Aguirre has made it a “vicious habit” to come out with unsubstantiated allegations in public and then retracting these later on.

“How many times has the justice secretary done this? It is becoming a vicious habit. Anyone can fall victim to this reckless practice. Such is the main reason why the public’s faith in the justice system in the country continues to erode,” he said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson also had a message to Aguirre for his latest blunder.

“My message for him is this: you never learn from your mistakes,” Lacson said in Filipino. – With Ghio Ong