Senators Slam NBI Director Over 2019 SEA Games Probe

Senators Robin Padilla, Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano took offense Wednesday at the statement of National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag that he will investigate the alleged anomalies in the bidding and funding of projects for the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. At the start of Wednesday’s trial, Padilla raised concern regarding the series of investigations and cases filed against senator-judges while the impeachment proceedings are ongoing. “Dapat po ba tayong mangamba? Hindi ba tayo ay isang malayang korte? Tayo po ay may karapatan na ibinigay ng Konstitusyon upang isagawa ang pagdinig na ito,” Padilla said. (Should we be concerned? Are we not an independent court? We have the right under the Constitution to conduct this hearing.) Cayetano, who served as chairman of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee, which organized the 2019 SEA Games, claimed that the NBI probe was meant to intimidate him as a senator-judge “It’s not easy. 24 lang kami. Nabawasan na ng tatlo (we lost three senators already). So I hope this issue of the integrity of the court becomes an issue for all of us,” Cayetano said. (“I’ll repeat what I said when I was Senate President---Director, hindi mo kami natibag (you failed to break us). So, ‘wag mo try tibagin itong representation na ‘to o itong (don’t try to do it again to this representation or to this) impeachment court because what you’re doing is not helping,” he added. Matibag earlier floated alleged funding anomalies in the sports complex in New Clark City, Tarlac which was used for the 2019 SEA Games. Senator-judge Pia Cayetano defended her brother, saying that the NBI is supposedly trying to distract senator-judges from doing their jobs in the impeachment trial. “There is no jurisdiction in the world that allows a judge to be pressured and intimidated,” Pia Cayetano said. “And I ask each one of you, my dear colleagues--Payag ba tayo sa ganito? Ganito na ba tayo dito ngayon? (Do we allow this to happen? Should this happen to us now?) Don't we want a better country for our children? Why would you allow a Director, who was just called to be a witness next week, brag that he's going to investigate?” Matibag is set to be presented by the House prosecution panel as a witness in Duterte’s trial, testifying on Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment, detailing the supposed grave threat and assassination plot against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez. —AOL, GMA News