Aguirre files wiretapping complaint vs. Sen. Risa Hontiveros

MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has filed a wiretapping case against Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Aguirre went to the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office early Monday morning and accused Hontiveros of violating Republic Act 4200, or the Anti-wiretapping Act.

The Justice chief earlier cried intrusion of privacy when Hontiveros, in a privilege speech, showed a screenshot of a text message exchange between Aguirre and a certain “Cong. Jing”, presumably lawyer and former lawmaker Jing Paras.

The shot of the message exchange suggested that the Justice chief was ordering "Cong. Jing" to hasten case build-up against Hontiveros.

Paras is a member of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, an NGO that has filed cases against figures deemed opponents of the Duterte administration.

Aguirre has not denied nor confirmed the content of the text message exchange but insisted his rights had been violated.

Aguirre and other members of the administration last year claimed the existence of a sex video of Sen. Leila De Lima that they said would be used as evidence against her. De Lima, now jailed on drug charges, denied the existence of the video bt that did not stop officials from discussing and threatening to show it in a House hearing.

A provision in the Anti-wiretapping Act reads: "It shall be unlawful for any person, not being authorized by all the parties to any private communication or spoken word, to tap any wire or cable, or by using any other device or arrangement, to secretly overhear, intercept, or record such communication or spoken word by using a device commonly known as a dictaphone or dictagraph or detectaphone or walkie-talkie or tape recorder."

Hontiveros, in her privilege speech, only pointed out a photo of Aguirre who was seen texting someone during the probe.

Paras files similar charge at ombudsman

A similar complaint was filed by Paras and the VACC, known supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte, against Hontiveros before the Office of the Ombudsman a week ago.

In a text message to reporters, Aguirre said that: “After further study, I came to the conclusion that it is the civil courts and the National Prosecution Service that have jurisdiction over the cases because the offenses were committed when [Senator Risa] was not in the performance of her official duties.”

The Justice chief assured that the case against Hontiveros will be treated fairly, despite the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office being under the Department of Justice.

“It is the law that determines jurisdiction,” Aguirre said, adding: “What I could say is that the DOJ will treat these cases fairly and with justice so [she] has nothing to fear.”

Aguirre and Hontiveros had been trading barbs over the senator taking protective custody of the witnesses in the slay of Kian Delos Santos, a 19-year-old killed in a Caloocan City police operation in August.

Both have asked each other to inhibit from separate probes by the Department of Justice and the Senate on the Delos Santos case.