HONTIVEROS: BY SKIRTING THE ISSUE, AGUIRRE CONFIRMS TEXT CONVERSATION IS REAL

By trying to skirt the issue with long statements and convoluted legal arguments, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre just confirmed to us all the authenticity of his text conversation caught inadvertently by somebody's camera. Why is the Justice Secretary invoking the Anti-Wiretapping Law? Is he admitting to that the text conversation is real?

The Justice Secretary accuses me of indecency and being unethical. There is nothing more indecent and unethical than being caught red-handed plotting against a senator during a Senate hearing inside the Senate.

Mukhang kailangan magbuklat ni Secretary Aguirre ng dictionary at i-review kung ano ang kahulugan ng decency.

Let me respectfully correct the justice secretary. There is no violation of his privacy. There was no intent to tap or intercept his messages. The law is clear. What is prohibited is willfully and knowingly committing any acts constituting wiretapping. What happened can simply be likened to overhearing a conversation by a careless person talking loudly in public. In this case, it was a text conversation, which was inadverdently caught by someone's camera lens.

And why is Secretary Aguirre suddenly a protector of the right to privacy when he wantonly disregarded this when he unnecessarily made public Senator Leila De Lima's personal life and even threatened to show her fake sex videos?

I find it funny that some of his defenders say that the text conversation is fake. If that is the case, how can I or the person who accidentally took the picture be liable for "wiretapping" a fake text conversation?

Clearly, Secretary Aguirre is shooting blanks. Pilit nagpapalusot. Sa hinaba-haba ng kanyang paliwanag, hindi niya masagot ang simpleng tanong, totoo ba o hindi ang text conversation kung saan nabisto siya na nakikipagkuntsabahan sa mga grupo para lutuin ang mga kasong isasampa laban sa oposisyon? That is the real issue here.