Senator Francis Tolentino, the chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, announced that lawyers of respondents, witnesses, and resource persons will finally be given a chance to participate in subsequent committee proceedings.
Tolentino said this will be the first time that the Philippine Senate’s Blue-Ribbon Committee will give lawyers a “bigger role.”
“May karapatan sila. Yung abogado nila will have a role. Perhaps, not an adversarial speaking role but definitely a big role,” the legislator said during an interview at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum.
The move, the lawmaker said, is expected to give equal rights to respondents who are required to deliver sensitive and relevant information to the committee.
“Hindi pwedeng sabihin na inusig sila doon, hindi sila pinagsalita, hinaharang sila, hindi sila nabigyan ng day in committee.”
“So makikita mo dito ngayon, talagang pantay-pantay na ‘to. Hindi pwedeng sabihin na inusig sila doon, hindi sila pinagsalita, hinaharang sila, hindi sila nabigyan ng day in committee,” the senator explained.
“It is an empowerment to lawyers as members of the legal profession.”
He also sees it as empowerment to lawyers as members of the legal profession.
Tolentino said he will make the formal detailed announcement of the new committee rule in the latter part of the last hearing on the controversial Department of Education laptops.
During his assumption as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, he also implemented the citing of the committee findings every time an investigation concludes which he claims to be the first time it would be done in the 106 years of existence of the Philippine Senate.
