Transcript: Senate media interview of Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri

Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" F. Zubiri: I urgently call all our law enforcement agencies to immediately hunt down and arrest the suspects behind the death of John Matthew Salilig, and to ensure that they are dealt with using the full force of our Anti-Hazing Law.

Nakakapanghina pong magising sa balita na may isa na namang batang nasawi dahil sa hazing. My prayers and condolences go out to John's family and friends, as well as my assurance that we are with them in finding justice for his death.

Our laws are clear on this: any individual who participated in hazing that leads to the victim's death is punishable with reclusion perpetua. Life imprisonment.

Hazing should not be tolerated by any society and we have the laws in place to make sure that it should never happen to hapless young men and women only longing for friendship and camaraderie. Those barbarian perpetrators should all rot in jail for the rest of their lives.

The culture of secrecy in the guise of fraternal "brotherhood" is abhorrent, and each and every single person involved--from those who planned and those who participated, even those who were just present watching these people suffer and did not do anything to stop them--should be thrown in jail as well. Under our laws they are all responsible.

That's my statement on the senseless killing, barbaric killing of Mr. Salilig on the hands of his supposed brother in the fraternity.

QUESTION: DO YOU SEE THE NEED TO REVISIT THE ANTI-HAXZNG LAW?

SP ZUBIRI: I don't think we need... We already improved the first law. Remember those first anti-hazing law? This is the strengthening of the anti-hazing law. What we need to do is to show justice for the family. At para matakot yung mga individual na ito na talagang pag sila ay nanakit ng kapwa nilang kapatid sa fraternity ay talagang makukulong sila at mabibigyan ng hustisya ang mga pamilya ng biktima. I think it saddens me na maraming pasaway. A year ago, under the hands of the same fraternity, also another victim died in Laguna and now this victim, this should stop. These senseless killings and yung mga pananakit sa kanilag mga kapatid ay kailangan matigil na at may batas po dyan. Again let me warn you that it is reclusion perpetua at dapat gawin ang tungkulin ng ating mga kapulisan ang paghuli sa mga perpetrators na ito at itapon na sa kulungan ang mga ito.

I'm also appealing to the organization to cooperate fully with the authorities. I'm also appealing to the same organization dapat i-seminar na siguro nila lahat ng mga kapatid nila na bawal na po yung hazing. There is not going around and skirting around the issue, manakit po kayo ng kapwa ninyo whether it is psychological or physical, bawal po iyan and the penalties are severe para sa ganun ay hindi na mangyari muli sa isang inosenteng bata itong pangyayari sa biktimang ito.

Q: YOUR OBSERVATIONS OR COMMENTS TO BLACKLIST FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES?

SP Zubiri: Well, not all fraternities and sororities are bad. Maybe they should blacklist those who are committing these crimes of hazing and physical abuse on their students. Pero, there are good fraternities and sororities. Marami akong nakausap na fraternities and sororities in my school, UP Los Banos, na tinigil na nila yung hazing and they did other things like paglilinis ng kanilang tambayan -- simple menial tasks -- and no longer do physical and mental abuses on the students.

May mga fraternities naman na nag-comply na sa Anti-Hazing Law, so hindi naman dapat lahatin natin na i-ban ito sa eskwelahan. Sa tingin ko, yung mga nagaabuso lang na talagang may bad record. Yung talagang pasaway na ayaw tumigil sa panggu-gulpi at pangtotorture dito sa estudyante, mga kapatid nila na gusto sumama sa mga organisasyon na ito.

Dapat ay managot din sila sa proper authorities within the school system.

Q: SOME OF YOUR COLLEAGUES HAVE RESERVATIONS ON EDCA

SP Zubiri: I have no problem with EDCA sites. This issue came about because of our problem in the West Philippine Sea. Siguro kung wala tayong problema sa West Philippines Sea at walang nambubully sa atin, we can probably disregard having EDCA sites. But at this point of time, there's a big bully harassing ang ating mga mangingisda, harassing ang ating mga coast guard, harassing itong mga nanggugulo sa ating mga navy boats, navy airplanes, air force planes, nagpapadala tayo ng pagkain sa Pag-asa Island bilang isang municipality ng Palawan. Mayroong nanghaharass sa ating mga supply boats. Yung Ayungin Shoals na napakalapit po sa Palawan. Kung heto po ang Palawan, nandito ang Ayungin Shoals, almost 100 kms away within our exclusive economic zone. Nandito po yung isang bansa, nandito po ang Palawan.. ang layo-layo pero yung kineclaim nila ay palapit ng palapit sa ating bansa. So sa tanong niyo sa akin, ako ba ay pabor sa EDCA? Pabor po ako sa EDCA. Dahil itong EDCA sites ay makakatulong po sa ating mga defense forces sa pag protekta sa ating mga territoryo. So, I have no problems with it. If we didn't have bullies in our borders, then I don't think we need EDCA sites. Unfortunately, today, we have bullies in our borders, palapit ng palapit ng Pilipinas. Kailangan natin ng tulong ng lahat ng ating mga kaalyado na mga bansa na nagmamahal ng demokrasya, and freedom of navigation in the area.

Q: CONTRARY CONTINGENT OF SOME OF YOUR COLLEAGUES?

SP Zubiri: I suggest they go to Pag-asa Island. Why don't they visit Pag-asa Island. Maybe they should visit our soldiers in Ayungin Shoals. We are only a pumboat away from Palawan. At kapag nakita na nila ang sasalubong ay isang malaking barko ng bully na ito, sa tingin ko iba na ang sasabihin nila sa inyo.

Q: PERO SIR, ADDITIONAL SITES DAW PO WILL BE PLACED IN THE NORTH DAW PO...MUKHANG GAGAMITIN DAW PO ANG PILIPINAS AS A CUSHION AGAINST CHINA SA TAIWAN ISSUE NAMAN DAW PO.

SP Zubiri: Well, let's put it this way: Kung may mangyari sa Taiwan at papasukan ng China 'yong Taiwan, sigurado kasali din ang Pilipinas dyan, dahil, syempre, gaano kalayo po 'yong Taiwan sa Pilipinas? Sa Cagayan Province siguro wala pang, less than an hour flight, and by boat it's probably less than 6 hours by slow boat, by pump boat, so you'll see an influx of possible -- kung nagkagulo sa region na 'yan -- you'll see an influx of refugees to the Philippines, and hindi natin alam kung anong mangyayari. If there will be a blockade of these refugees, you have to remember, we have almost 300,000 Filipinos living in Taiwan. We also need a staging point to rescue our compatriots in Taiwan if there's going to be a conflict between Taiwan and China. So definitely, we'll welcome all of that.

Unfortunately, our Navy and our Air Force are incapable of bringing home 300,000 Filipinos at one go. So we need the help of all our allies to be able to do that.

Q: SIR, SHOULD THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CONSULT FIRST THE LOCAL OFFICIALS BEFORE STAGING --

SP Zubiri: That should be, well, standard operating procedure sana 'yon. Pero naintindihan ko naman po'yong mga local government officials kung ayaw po nila, dahil magiging target daw po sila ng kung ano mang mangyayari kung may international incident.

Pero ang akin dyan is, ang EDCA site naman is napakalapit nating ally, military and treaty ally, which by the way, under the SWS and Pulse Asia surveys, 80 percent of the Filipinos trust our allies in the United States. There's an 80 percent trust rating among Filipinos, particularly in the issue who to defend us when war breaks out due to the incursions in the West Philippines Sea. I think it shouldn't be a problem with their constituents. I'm sure kung tatanungin nila 'yong constituents nila, maybe 80 percent will agree to have EDCA sites in their area.

Alright, thank you, guys! Bye!