GONZALEZ DOESN'T DESERVE TO STAY AS JUSTICE SECRETARY

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino 'Nene' Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today dared Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to quit over his actuations and pronouncements that are unbecoming for a person occupying his Cabinet post.

Pimentel had criticized Gonzalez for insulting United Nations special rapporteur on human rights Philip Alston by claiming that he had been 'brainwashed' by militant leftist groups into coming out with an assessment that the military was mainly responsible for the string of extra-judicial killings of militant activists.

He said Gonzalez's diatribe against Professor Alston is irresponsible and preposterous because the UN representative based his conclusion on his interviews with people from both sides of the controversy and the findings of the Melo Commission which investigated the summary killings for four months.

The minority leader said Gonzalez' efforts to discredit Alston may have provided good sound-bites for the media but they amounted to an empty rhetoric that only embarrassed the Philippine government before the eyes of the international community.

"I won't debate the mental health of Secretary Gonzalez. That is no longer debatable. He doesn't fit the DOJ job. His recent acts and statements project him as a secretary of injustice," Pimentel said.

He said Gonzalez's inability to live up to expectations as head of the Department of Justice perhaps accurately explains why the Commission on Appointments has refused to confirm his nomination to his Cabinet position.

Pimentel also expressed dismay why Secretary Gonzalez is questioning the Filipino citizenship of Taguig Representative Alan Peter Cayetano in a blatant attempt to disqualify him as a senatorial candidate of the Genuine Opposition.

Gonzalez doubted if Cayetano has acquired Filipino citizenship after retrieving his records at the Bureau of Immigration showing he once held an Alien Certificate of Registration because of his American mother. Immigration Commissioner Al Fernandez has already issued an official certification that Cayetano is a natural-born Filipino citizen.

Pimentel said if Cayetano had not renounced his American citizenship, he would not have been allowed to run for congressman of Taguig for three consecutive terms.

He accused Gonzalez of dealing with legal issues in a partisan manner, instead of trying to interpret the law accurately and impartially, as a justice secretary should.