Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday publicly apologized to Sen. Pia Cayetano after wrongly claiming that she helped Sen. Ronald dela Rosa enter the Senate premises earlier this week.
During the plenary session, Lacson admitted that the information relayed to him by a source turned out to be inaccurate.
“I want to put it on record that I sincerely apologize to our distinguished colleague, Senator Pia Cayetano. That information was relayed to me by a fairly reliable source. And if that was a mistake, then I apologize,” Lacson said.
He added that he disclosed the information to the media without malicious intent, believing it was “not really a serious matter.”
Cayetano later addressed the issue on the Senate floor, saying Lacson should have first verified the information before publicly mentioning her name.
“Let me state this clearly and unequivocally. That statement is false. Senator dela Rosa did not ride in my vehicle nor did I have anything to do with facilitating his presence in the Senate last Monday,” Cayetano said.
“Hindi ko nga alam na darating siya,” she added.
(I did not even know he was arriving.)
The issue stemmed from the tense events at the Senate on Monday following reports of a possible International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against dela Rosa.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano later clarified that dela Rosa arrived at the Senate compound riding in his vehicle.