Pia Cayetano: 'I fear for my right to speak'

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Senator Pia Cayetano on Wednesday said she was feeling fear and pressure as more members of the minority bloc face cases amid the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

During a session where senator-judges heard insights from four retired Supreme justices on the voting threshold for conviction, Cayetano said she had observed that several senators had been unable to attend the hearings.

Currently, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are detained over separate plunder charges, while Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa is in hiding amid an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

Senator Loren Legarda has not attended the trial for several weeks as she remains abroad on extended medical leave.

“I went to Singapore to support a national team, and then I have to hear the NBI director making statements that make it appear that I’m a common fugitive, na na-monitor niya kung nasaan ako at meron siyang information kung anong araw ako babalik. Am I a fugitive? Bakit may ganito? (That he monitored where I was and had information on when I would return. Am I a fugitive? Why is it like this?)” Cayetano said.

“I will tell you all now, am I pressured? I am. I am. I fear for my liberty. Even in the Senate, we have a colleague, na walang katapusang tantanan kami (Even in the Senate, we have a colleague who just won’t stop going after us.). I fear for my right to speak,” she added.

“So, what will happen now? Do I excuse myself? Pero kung hindi gagalawin 'yang number na iyan eh di nakakapagsalita tayo rito nang maayos (But if that number is not changed, then we can speak freely here),” she said, apparently referring to Presiding Officer Francis Escudero’s ruling that under the 1987 Constitution conviction requires at least 16 affirmative votes, or two-thirds of all members of the Senate.

Senator Pia Cayetano and her brother, Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, traveled to Singapore on September 9 and returned to the Philippines on September 12.

According to the Bureau of Immigration, there was no hold departure order or derogatory record that would have prevented the Cayetanos from traveling abroad. —VBL, GMA News