Members of the senate minority support Senator Risa Hontiveros’ call on the resignation of Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Senator Hontiveros released on Monday several photos of Aguirre’s exchange of text messages with the member of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) Jacinto “Jing” Paras, which she accused of plotting case against her while a senate hearing is ongoing.

Senators Franklin Drilon, Leila de Lima, Bam Aquino, Francis Pangilinan and Antonio Trillanes IV have recalled their protest on DOJ secretary’s resignation.

“We reiterate our call for Vitaliano Aguirre to resign from his post as Secretary of Justice,” the minority senators said.

“Now, he has been caught red-handed plotting against a sitting Senator during a hearing where he is supposed to be paying his utmost attention,” senators said in a statement.

Earlier, Aguirre also received collective ethics complaint on spreading false information against politicians, the complaint was filed by the Millennial Against Dictators, the youth group accused the Justice Secretary of violating the same complaint which is the Republic Act 6713 the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Official and Employees.

“His actions signify a lack of competence for a man who holds the highest office on justice. His actions clearly violate the norms of conduct for public officials under the law,” the minority senators said.

Hontiveros on Aguirre’s “unethical conduct”

The dismayed Senator Hontiveros called for the resignation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre saying that the justice secretary violated the Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

All these lead me to the conclusion that there is no other respectable option but to call on the Justice Secretary to resign,” this was the conclusion of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros during her privilege speech at the senate on Monday.

“Secretary Aguirre undermines our justice system, and his continued stay in office is a vulgar insult to the Filipino people and our efforts for a more just society,” Senator Hontiveros stressed.

In her privilege speech, Hontiveros presented enlarged digital photos of Justice Secretary exchanging text messages with a “Cong. Jing”, the senator identified that it was the Former Negros Oriental Representative Jacinto “Jing” Paras, who is a member of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).

In the text message, “Naturuan na ni Hontiveros ang testigo [Hontiveros already coached the witness], her questions are leading questions,” Cong. Jing’s text message read.

“Very obvious, kaya nga expedite natin ang cases niyo vs her [Very obvious, let’s expedite your cases against her],” Aguirred replied.

Hontiveros said that anonymous source caught Aguirre texting during the senate hearing on the killing of the 17-year-old student Kian Lloyd Delos Santos. “The photographer was inadvertently able to capture the text message exchange on the screen of the phone of the DOJ Secretary.” Hontiveros said.

The lady senator said that she consulted with several photography experts, who all confirmed the authenticity of the digital photo.</s>This was the reaction of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on Wednesday regarding the minority senators’ statement of support to Senator Risa Hontiveros’ call for his resignation.

Aguirre’s reaction came after the opposition senators issued on Tuesday morning a statement joining Hontiveros in a clamor for the Justice secretary’s resignation but later in the day took it back after Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan posted a message on social media citing miscommunication.

In the afternoon of the same day, the senators’ statement of support was made official again.

“Nagtataka nga ko, hindi malaman ng minority bloc na ito kung anong gagawin. Nung umaga sabi nila, ‘we go with Senator Hontiveros’ in asking DOJ (Department of Justice) secretary to resign,” Aguirre said in an interview over Radyo Inquirer.

“Tapos nung tanghali, winithdraw nila yan. Sabi nila there is a matter of miscommunication dun sa support the call to resign.”

“Tapos nag-meeting yang mga opposition senators, after mag-meeting nila nakita siguro nila na hindi maganda yung aming pag-withdraw ng call to resign so binalik na naman nila ng 4:00 (p.m.),” he added.

On Tuesday, the minority senators released a statement supporting Hontiveros’ call for Aguirre’s resignation after the secretary was caught exchanging text messages with a certain “Cong. Jing” asking to “expedite the filing of cases” against the senator.

Aside from Hontiveros, the five other minority members in the Senate are Franklin Drilon, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Benigno Paulo “Bam” Aquino IV, and Leila De Lima, all part of the Liberal Party (LP); and Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.

The five later recalled their statement because of an “internal miscommunication” and then re-issued the statement afterwards.

“We reiterate our call for Vitaliano Aguirre to resign from his post as Secretary of Justice. This recent development once more highlights his unethical actions as a public official,” the minority senators said in a statement.

The justice secretary, meanwhile, maintained his decision not to resign as long as President Rodrigo Duterte has “trust and confidence” in him.

“Pero (but) as long as the President has trust and confidence in me, I will not resign,” he added. /jpv

READ: Hontiveros seeks Aguirre’s resignation over plot against her</s>Minority senators on Tuesday joined Senator Risa Hontiveros’ call for Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to resign after he was caught exchanging text messages with a certain “Cong. Jing” asking to expedite the filing of cases against the lady senator.

READ: Hontiveros seeks Aguirre’s resignation over plot against her

“We reiterate our call for Vitaliano Aguirre to resign from his post as Secretary of Justice. This recent development once more highlights his unethical actions as a public official,” the minority senators said in a statement.

Aside from Hontiveros, the Senate minority bloc includes Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Benigno Paulo “Bam” Aquino IV, and Leila De Lima, all part of the Liberal Party (LP); and Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.

In August, the senators had also demanded Aguirre to resign after he accused the “dilawan” or members of the once ruling party of plotting the Marawi siege.

“Now, he has been caught red-handed plotting against a sitting Senator during a hearing where he is supposed to be paying his utmost attention,” they said.

In a privilege speech on Monday, Hontiveros showed photos of Aguirre texting, inadvertently taken by photographers, during the Senate hearing last Sept. 5 on the spate of drug killings.

Zooming on the photos will show Aguirre’s exchange of text messages with certain “Cong. Jing.” Cong. Jing’s message read: “Naturuan na ni Hontiveros ang testigo. Her questions are leading questions.”

The “Cong. Jing” Aguirre was texting, according to Hontiveros, could be Former Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto “Jing” Paras, who is a member of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).

The senators said Aguirre’s actions “signify a lack of competence for a man who holds the highest office on justice” and “clearly violate the norms of conduct for public officials under the law.”

“The Filipinos deserve better than a Cabinet official who resorts to spreading lies, sowing intrigue and to name-calling. We need a Secretary of Justice who will uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct, integrity, and justice. Secretary Aguirre clearly does not fulfill these requirements,” they said. JPV</s>OTTAWA -- Montreal took a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators when winger Dale Weise scored his second of the night at 8:47 of overtime to give the Canadiens a 2-1 victory Sunday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

Weise’s snap shot from the left wing circle went behind Senators goalie Craig Anderson on the short side, the only glitch in an otherwise exceptional 47-save effort.

Game 4 of the series is Wednesday night in Ottawa.

The Canadiens, who outshot the Senators 9-7 in overtime and 49-34 on the game, were given a power play when Ottawa winger Curtis Lazar was called for boarding at 6:13 of overtime.

Anderson kept the game going with a big glove save off a point blast from Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry.

Senators winger Mark Stone had the best early chance in overtime, slapping a shot from the top of the right wing face-off circle that was nabbed by Canadiens goalie Carey Price 1:40 in.

Anderson made saves off Canadiens winger Max Pacioretty and center David Desharnais in close during the fifth minute.

Weise tied the game off a scramble with 5:47 left in regulation time and Anderson out of position after making a stop at the other side of the net.

Until then, a first-period goal by MacArthur was the only mark on the board.

Making just his fifth start since March 29 and only his fifth since Jan. 21, Anderson was exceptional, stopping 39 shots through three periods. Price made 26 saves in regulation time.

The Habs dominated the second period for the third game in a row, holding a 19-6 edge in shots. But Anderson, who has been bothered by a bruised blocking hand for the better part of three months, stopped them all.

MacArthur had the only goal of a very physical, high tempo first period. Trying to deliver a hit along the left-wing boards, Habs defenseman P.K. Subban left his partner, defenseman Andrei Markov, alone in front of the net to deal with MacArthur and Senators center Kyle Turris. Markov battled Turris while MacArthur kept the puck, made a move and slipped a backhand past Price just inside the far post.

The Senators outshot the Habs 12-9 in the opening segment, but the more important statistic in the tone-setting initial 20 minutes was in the hits count, where Ottawa had a 27-19 edge.

NOTES: The booing of Canadiens D P.K. Subban started in the warmup, as it was more than the usual wrath that is reserved for the opponent’s best team. There remain hard feelings over the slash Subban delivered to Senators RW Mark Stone. “He enjoys these atmospheres, these moments,” Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher said of his teammate earlier in the day. “He’s the type of player who really gets up for these.” ... Senators LW Chris Neil played his first game since breaking a thumb in a Vanletine’s Day fight with Oilers LW Luke Gadzic. Neil, the Senators all-time penalty minutes leader, replaced LW Alex Chiasson ... Senators G Andrew Hammond, who was replaced by G Craig Anderson after he lost the first two games of the series in Montreal, took the decision in stride. “It’s too crucial of a juncture in the season to not have everyone pulling on the same rope,” said Hammond. “I support everything that’s being done right now.” ... Canadiens RW Max Pacioretty entered the night with four goals in his previous three games against the Senators. All came against Hammond, who won two of the three games.</s>It is a sad situation. It does not become a democracy. And it certainly does wrong to our heritage as a nation. Things ought not to have come to this pass.

Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik has just launched a broadside against Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha. He thus joins that disturbingly growing band of people who have seemingly decided that the Chief Justice has committed a grievous wrong, that he must now pay the price. In his assault on the Chief Justice, Justice Manik, who is no more part of the judiciary, having gone into retirement, has questioned whether Justice Sinha himself wrote, in the space of 25 days, all those 400 pages of observations relating to the Appellate Division’s verdict on the 16th amendment to the Constitution. He perhaps thinks it is humanly impossible for an individual to write that long a manuscript in that brief a period.

The point here is not that Justice Sinha finished writing those pages in 25 days. It is one of why Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik has now thought it necessary to raise his question. One is only too aware of the public position he took, on a separate issue, in his last skirmish with the Chief Justice, a position he ought not to have taken. Now that he has found a new reason to pounce on Justice Sinha, there is that strong whiff of prejudice working here. The former judge makes things worse when he accuses the Chief Justice of having had his observations written by Pakistan’s notorious ISI or its agents. That is hitting an individual, be he the Chief Justice or a simple citizen of Bangladesh, below the belt. And the act coming from one judge in relation to another, it is not only sad. It is also appalling in the extreme.

Justice Chowdhury has held out a threat to Justice Sinha. The Chief Justice, he has warned, will have to leave the country if he does not recognize Bangabandhu’s leadership in the attainment of Bangladesh’s independence. That is the crux of the issue. In all these weeks in which the Chief Justice has found himself embroiled in an unsavoury situation, the arrows have been coming at him from all directions. He is, say his detractors, guilty of undermining Bangabandhu. A simple question now comes up: Can one really get taken in by the thought that the Chief Justice has or can or will question the leadership of the Father of the Nation? Perhaps he misspoke somewhat in those observations, perhaps the language was not well-formulated, but what remains abundantly clear is his loyalty, like that of the 160 million people of Bangladesh, to Bangabandhu and his legacy.

But now Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik has held out the palpably ominous warning that this country may not be home for Justice Sinha for much longer. That brings us to another, rather disconcerting question: What right does a citizen have to question the patriotism of another? It is all right for people to disagree, especially in a democracy; and a whole host of individuals in the government or supportive of it have made their views known on Justice Sinha’s observations. Of course, those views — or call them trenchant criticisms — have done the government little good. It is always nerve-wracking for citizens to have to confront the spectacle of the executive and judicial branches of government getting into fisticuffs with each other. In these past many days, ministers have gone after the Chief Justice over his observations. They could have done better by keeping quiet, by discussing the issue with Justice Sinha away from the public eye. That they did not do that is unfortunate. It has created a bad precedent, for in future the functionaries of governments to come might well take recourse to similar moves, leading to a further fraying of the fabric of governance.

And a fraying of the fabric was the consequence of the remarks made on the judicial judgment relating to the 16th amendment by Justice Khairul Haq Chowdhury. At present chairman of the Law Commission, Justice Chowdhury certainly did not consider it impolitic or unwise to pronounce his indignation at the Supreme Court move. Why he needed to wade into a conflict that pitted, to our intense discomfort, the executive against the judiciary remains a question that has no answer. But what we can be sure of is that it did not set a good precedent. Former justices and former chief justices do not, as part of a time-honoured tradition, make public their views on the work or judicial decisions of their successors. That tradition has now been badly broken, first by Justice Khairul Haq Chowdhury and now by Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik. Add to that the systematic way in which Chief Justice Sinha has been and is being berated by ministers and others in the ruling Awami League — and what you have is a sight that can only depress you, can only undermine the institutions you would like to see acquire strength and dig deeper roots for pluralistic politics in the country.

It is a sad situation, made grim by the unhealthy and growing feeling that reason has been giving way to intimidation, that values are getting mauled in the brickbats flying around the person and office of Chief Justice of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court.</s>GATINEAU, Que. — The Ottawa Senators already have a dozen forwards signed to guaranteed NHL contracts. Boston College’s Colin White is among the top prospects hoping to win a spot out of training camp.

But that won’t stop the Senators from taking a look at other proven NHL veterans.

The Senators announced on Monday that they have invited Chris VandeVelde to training camp on a professional tryout contract.

VandeVelde, 30, scored six goals and nine assists in 81 games with Philadelphia last season. Primarily used on the fourth line and as a penalty killer during his career, he has 18 goals and 30 assists in 278 NHL games with Philadelphia and Edmonton.

“We just felt we wanted as competitive a camp as possible and we’re bringing in (another) NHL body to see what he can do,” said Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. “We still have some (training camp) room and he’ll compete with some of our younger kids to (try and) make our team.”

Dorion says it’s possible the Senators could sign “maybe one or two more” forwards to PTO contracts.

The Senators will open training camp with medicals and tests on Thursday.

Centre Derick Brassard, recovering from shoulder surgery, is not expected to receive clearance for contact for the next few weeks.

That presents a potential opportunity for someone to earn a spot. Yet VandeVelde, and whatever other veteran forwards are brought in, will be battling players such as White, Max McCormick, Chris DiDomenico, Tyler Randell, Ben Sexton and Mike Blunden.

Dorion, meanwhile, was raving about the play of 2016 first-round pick Logan Brown at last weekend’s rookie tournament in Toronto.

Brown had an inconsistent, injury-plagued 2016-17 season with Windsor in the OHL and the Senators weren’t impressed with his play at the club’s development camp in June.

“He really showed us that one day, he’ll be one of our top two centremen,” Dorion said of the 6-foot-6 Brown. “I don’t think it will be this year, but whether it’s next year or in the next few years, we know we have something special there. I think his work ethic through the tournament really showed.”

Dorion also has high hopes for goaltender Marcus Hogberg, the club’s third-round draft pick (78th overall) in 2013.

“His play at the rookie tournament showed us that, I think, we have someone who really has a chance to be a number one goalie in the NHL one day, as long as he continues on this trend.”

The Senators, however, have a logjam in the crease. Barring injury, Craig Anderson and Mike Condon will start the season in Ottawa.

Dorion says that Danny Taylor, a former Los Angeles Kings draft pick who has spent the past two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League, has a guaranteed spot with Belleville in the AHL. In addition, Andrew Hammond still has one year and $1.5 million remaining on his contract and Chris Driedger remains in the organization.

It’s possible that Hogberg could begin the season in the ECHL.
Philippine senators call for Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to resign.