UNA execs barred from Senate probe on Makati building By AMITA LEGASPI,GMA NewsOctober 30, 2014 10:02am Tags: Jejomar Binay , Toby Tiangco Saying they were not invited, the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee on Thursday prevented two allies of Vice President Jejomar Binay from participating in the resumption of the hearing probing the alleged overpricing in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II. At the beginning of the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano questioned the presence of lawyer JV Bautista, interim secretary general of the United Nationalist Alliance, at the table reserved for resource persons. Bautista tried to speak but was prevented from doing so since he was neither a witness or a spokesperson. Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, UNA interim president, also tried to talk but he was likewise stopped. “The congressman is also not a resource person. He is a congressman ... he knows the rules (of Congress). You cannot just raise your hand and talk here. You write a letter to us. You cannot gatecrash here,” Cayetano said. He also asked the Senate sergeant at arms to bring Bautista and Tiangco out of the session hall. Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the subcommittee, then called for a recess to talk to the two. After the meeting, Pimentel said there is a no need to engage in word war but Bautista and Tiangco were still not allowed to speak on behalf of the Vice President. “They will not be allowed to speak because they have not been invited as witness or spokesperson,” he said. Cayetano said the two do not have formal authority or letter from the Vice President that they can speak on his behalf. “Pag mali yung sinabi nila sasabihin ng Vice President na spokesman ko lang nagsabi niya. If they give us a letter that the Vice President authorizes them, we will let them speak. As far as we are concerned, they are mere spectators, we cannot allow them to speak especially if it is not their personal knowledge,” he said. He believed the actuation of the two was a ‘very bad precedent.’ “That is a criminal offense, you cannot stop a legislative proceeding but we will let is pass baka emosyon lang yan,” said Cayetano. — RSJ, GMA News gmanetwork/news/story/385835/news/nation/una-execs-barred-from-senate-probe-on-makati-building
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 07:12:47 +0000
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