Ethics complaint targets Pia Cayetano over spliced video of Chel Diokno at trial

MANILA, Philippines — A coalition of civil society groups filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Pia Cayetano on Wednesday, July 29, over a "spliced and misleading" video of House prosecutor Rep. Chel Diokno (Akbayan) she posted on her official social media account.

The complaint was signed by former Commission on Higher Education chair Patricia "Tatti" Licuanan, University of the Philippines Diliman professor and Everywoman co-convenor Jean Franco, and leaders of other youth, advocacy and women's groups.

The video, posted on July 24, had drawn thousands of views and reactions. The complainants said it was edited to suggest that Diokno had admitted at trial that House prosecutors had no evidence to pursue the impeachment case against Duterte.

The clip showed Diokno during a July 20 hearing before the Senate impeachment court, where he was justifying the House prosecution's request to subpoena Duterte's bank and tax records in relation to the alleged undeclared wealth article.

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Cayetano's post had no caption, but the video's top text read "Nagbabasakali lng" while the bottom text read "walang mga ebidensya pero nag aakusa na."

Alleged breach of oath

The complainants asked the Senate committee on ethics and privileges to investigate Cayetano, a senator-judge at the trial, arguing that the post undermined the integrity of the impeachment proceedings.

They said the post also raised questions about Cayetano's role as a senator-judge, given her oath to do "impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws of the Philippines."

"The actions done by Sen. Pia S. Cayetano were a direct violation of this oath. The video only revealed her bias for the vice-president's camp," the complaint read.

At a press briefing Wednesday, House prosecutors said the video was "alarming" because it could give the public the wrong impression of the prosecution's argument, or suggest that a member of the Senate impeachment court had already prejudged the case.

Cayetano has yet to issue a response to the complaint.