Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri called out the former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent who according to him, spouted what appears to be "hearsay evidence" during a Senate panel hearing.
Zubiri mentioned this in a press conference on Tuesday, May 7, after monitoring the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs presided by Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa on the alleged leakage involving confidential documents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) linking President Marcos and actress Maricel Soriano to illegal drugs.
This was based on the pre-operation report that Morales himself penned.
According to the document, dated March 11, 2012, a confidential informant personally appeared before PDEA to report that a group of showbiz and political personalities are frequently using illegal drugs at unit 46-C, Rizal Tower Building, in Rockwell located in Makati City.
"While certain claims were made, documentary evidence is yet to be presented. There were no pictures, no corroborating testimonies. In other words, this was solely based on the testimony of one person based on what appears to be hearsay evidence," he said.
"Morales cites a document which he claims to have seen, by virtue of his former position, although he did not personally witness any wrongdoing. The drug test of the President is being brought up, even though it does not appear to be germane to the subject of the motu proprio investigation," he added.
Zubiri pointed out that under a court of law, guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. While legislative inquiries are very liberal in terms of adhering to rules of evidence, "it is our opinion that hearings should aim to ferret out the truth using evidence and facts."
He mentioned that people's faith in inquiries-in-aid of legislation may be diminished, especially when it causes reputational damage to other parties.
"There have been instances where statements were made in legislative inquiries, only to be recanted before the courts later on. We do not want a repeat of that," he said.
"While we respect the Committees’ right to perform oversight functions, in aid of legislation. However, we would like to remind our colleagues to be very careful not to use hearings in aid of political persecution," he added.
Zubiri said that despite their political affiliations, senators must be one in preserving the integrity of the constitutional duty to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.