In case you missed it, Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano got into another verbal smackdown on Mon afternoon, Sep 26.
“The two senators got into another tiff after Trillanes delivered a privilege speech asking the Senate to look into the alleged ‘direct’ involvement of President Rodrigo Duterte in the more than 1,000 people allegedly killed by the Davao Death Squad,” reports Philippine Daily Inquirer.
After Trillanes’ speech, Cayetano stood up to interpellate his colleague. Trillanes didn’t like this, as he thought that Cayetano “was not debating him but was delivering a ‘monologue.'”
Trillanes remarked, “The gentleman is saying that this is a debate but it has been a monologue since around 4:20, I’m confused now.”
To which Cayetano replied, “I’ll show him where the debate is. The debate is when I ask him a question but he keeps answering me na motion na (that it’s time for a motion).”
Cayetano added, “I don’t think it’s parliamentarily feasible for one senator to stand up and expect na wala na lang magtatanong (that no one would ask questions) and we just take their statements hook, line, and sinker. Having said that, I apologize for my style, kanya kanyang style kasi iyan (each senator has his or her own style).”
That said, Cayetano accused Trillanes of trying to run away from a discussion.
Trillanes fired back, “I’m not here to oust anybody, well not yet at least. But I’m just here proposing to investigate a very serious matter and I believe the gentleman has a bottomless spit of wisdom and I’m going to concede that he’s even wiser than me many times over but again let’s get to the point.”
Unable to let Cayetano’s taunt pass, Trillanes added, “If the gentleman keeps on saying that I would want to run away, [he should] recall that when I sat beside him during the hearing, he was the one who ran away. Now unless you want me to go near you again, just say so.”
Trillanes was clearly referring to the Sep 15 incident, wherein he turned off Cayetano’s microphone.
If you ask us, though, maybe these two need to be kept away from microphones for a while.
