MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday called his colleague Antonio Trillanes IV a "mutineer" during a Senate session, prompting the latter to shoot back with his own description of Zubiri as a "cheater" in elections.
The senators were discussing a P50-million bribery scandal at the Bureau of Immigration (BI). Trillanes had accused pro-administration senators including Zubiri of trying to whitewash a probe sought by Senators Franklin Drilon and Leila de Lima.
"Never in my nine years in the House of Representatives and four years in the Senate have I been accused (of whitewashing any investigation)… I take offense on that. I don’t know what should be done, maybe this will be taken in the ethics committee or the gentleman (Trillanes) should apologize," Zubiri said. — Report by Paolo Romero; Video report by Efigenio Toledo IV