Gender issue keeps De Lima on witness stand

MANILA, Philippines - A brief distraction, caused by a last-minute discussion on gender sensitivity issue, left Justice Secretary Leila de Lima frozen on the witness stand even after the Senate impeachment court had already declared yesterday’s trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona adjourned.

The impeachment court forgot to discharge De Lima from the witness stand, apparently after Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III got distracted from adjournment procedures by his light exchange of ideas on gender matters with Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Sotto, before the adjournment, moved that Cayetano’s remarks “mga lalaki naman tayo dito eh” be stricken off the records because they were gender insensitive. But Cayetano denied having said such remarks while cross-examining prosecutor Rep. Neri Colmenares.

“I didn’t say that unlike men, women are gossipers. What I said was that Kami ay mga lalaki, kaya hindi kami dapat mahilig sa tsismis (We are men and we’re not supposed to be fond of gossip),” Cayetano said, adding that he could not afford to be gender insensitive because his elder sister was also a senator.

He said his statement was not “gender insensitive” and should not be stricken off the records. At this point, Sotto manifested for the adjournment of the impeachment trial with De Lima still not yet discharged. After realizing the blunder, he called that De Lima be discharged as witness.

Earlier in the trial, Sotto subjected Sen. Gregorio Honasan to a joke.

Sotto started by congratulating Sen. Loren Legarda who was promoted to lieutenant colonel recently.

“We now have a senator (Legarda) who is a Lt. Colonel. We also have here Senator (Panfilo) Lacson who was a chief superintendent. We have Lt. Senior Grade Senator (Antonio) Trillanes IV. And we also have here Senator (Gregorio) Honasan who is an HD. Honorably Discharged,” Sotto said, cracking up the gallery.

For her part, Legarda said Honasan could take the joke by Sotto because they were close friends.

 “I’m sure Senator Honasan will not take it against Senator Sotto because they were close friends. I don’t think Senator Honasan would punch Sotto because of that. I’m not really sure what Senator Honasan would do if those jokes were made by other people,” Legarda said.