Press Release
February 12, 2018

Transcript of Interview of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III

On the request of Senator Chiz Escudero to issue warrant of arrest for former COMELEC chair Andres Bautista

Senate President Koko Pimentel: I will talk with the chairman kung bakit kailangan ba. Kasi, I think he is out of the country, so useless din yung warrant of arrest, wala naman tayong mapapapunta doon to arrest him.

Q: Pagdating niya daw po sa airport, tsaka siya aarestohin.

SPKP: Ah yes oo, kung may warrant of arrest. Pero pwede naman yung kahit may warrant of arrest, bago ka umuwi, magsulat ka na pauwi ka, then pwede nang hindi.

Q: Sir what are the considerations if ever for the issuance of the warrant of arrest?

SPKP: Yun na nga, the grounds are defiance - is it really defiance or is it really something outside of his control, since he is out of the country eh. Ang nabasa ko, fourth time na raw. So I need to ask him, what are the four times.

Q: Sir kung may warrant of arrest, kung out of the country, hindi maiimplement?

SPKP: Yes wala, hangga't hindi umuuwi. Pero masama rin ang sitwasyon mo, kasi paguwi mo may warrant of arrest ka na. Oh gusto mo ba yun'? Ayaw mo din yun diba.

Q: The deployment ban to Kuwait sir, does that hurt our remittances?

SPKP: But if the remittances mean more deaths, is it really worth it? Binabalanse mo ngayon iyan. Actually dapat nga pinag-aaralan ng gobyerno ngayon, ano yung pasok ng pera, ano yung labas ng pera, in the support assistance to nationals, in the legal fees, in the other expenses just to monitor and supervise them, plus the lives lost. Dapat nga may mayroong assessment na ganyan, is it really worth it na tayo po ay may conscious program of deployment of Filipinos abroad? Is it really worth it?

So pagaralan po iyan. We're doing this now para gumanda ang buhay ng tao, but if we are losing lives, then iba na pong usapan iyan.

Q: So suportado po ninyo ang total deployment ban ni Presidente Duterte?

SPKP: Ang ban sana sa deployment ng mga household service workers. Pero siyempre ito, napuno na rin ata ang Presidente, dahil pito na yata itong namatay. So ang nangyari, naka-concentrate sa isang bansa, a total ban on one country.

But sana, ireview na ng DOLE ang possible ban on deploying household workers in societies or countries which have in their immediate past, a history of slave ownership, or of treating household help as second-class citizens, huwag na tayong mag-deploy doon.

Kesa sa mag-dedeploy tayo, hihintayin natin na may mamatay, magagalit ang Presidente, nagiging deployment ban against a country. We should look at the household service workers. They are the most vulnerable sa lahat, kasi nakatira sa bahay ng employer.

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