Hontiveros to file NBI complaint vs people behind alyas Rene video
Hontiveros was referring to the video of Michael Maurilio or alias "Rene," who alleged that he was paid by the lawmaker to speak lies against Quiboloy, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and Vice President Sara Duterte during a hearing of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality.
The senator, in return, called the video 'fake news' and 'witness tampering' as she presented proof in a press conference that alias Rene was not coerced to testify against Quiboloy and the Dutertes.
Senator Risa Hontiveros says that her legal team will file a complaint before the NBI against people behind the video of alias 'Rene:' 'Sa mga nasa likod ng video na ito, you have crossed a line. Sobra na kayo.' @gmanews pic.twitter.com/S9lehcIrK0 — Giselle Ombay (@giselleombay_) June 30, 2025
'Sa mga nasa likod ng video na ito, you have crossed the line. Sobra na kayo. Dahil doon (To those behind this video, you have crossed the line. This is too much. Because of this), I have consulted with my legal team and on Wednesday, we will file a complaint before the NBI and seek their assistance in investigating the people responsible for this video, and those systematically circulating it in their disinformation networks,' the senator said.
'This is only step one and we will take further decisive action, including the filing of criminal complaints. Para sa mga testigo at biktima, at para sa Senado, maniningil kami ng hustisya,' she added.
(We will demand justice for the witnesses and victims, and for the Senate.)
In February last year, a man identified as alias Rene was presented as a witness in the Senate committee hearing chaired by Hontiveros on the alleged abuses of the Quiboloy-led religious group, Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC).
The man claimed that Quiboloy hurt him, and that he was sexually abused by several KOJC members.
Moreover, he said he witnessed Rodrigo and Sara Duterte carrying firearms when they visited Quiboloy.
The Davao City-based religious leader is currently detained at Pasig City Jail. He is facing a non-bailable qualified human trafficking charge under Section 4(a) of Republic Act No. 9208, as amended,
He is also facing charges under Section 5(b) and Section 10(a) of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
33 minutes ago
- GMA Network
Romualdez seeks to allow watchdogs participate in budget deliberations
Speaker Martin Romualdez formalized Thursday his call to open the national budget deliberations to watchdogs and other civil society organizations by filing House Resolution 94. Under the resolution, bonafide people's organizations will be formally accredited and invited to actively participate as official non-voting observers in the deliberations of the House committee on appropriations and its sub-committees in the crafting of the national budget for 2026 and in all succeeding annual General Appropriations deliberations. Likewise, the resolution provides that the House committee on appropriations, in consultation with the Committee on People's Participation, will draft appropriate guidelines to determine eligibility, accreditation procedures, and the scope of participation of such organizations, consistent with existing laws and rules of the House. 'Let this resolution affirm the commitment of the House of Representatives to uphold democratic governance, participatory budgeting, and inclusive national development,' the resolution read. Romualdez co-authored House Resolution 94 with his wife, Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Romualdez, and their son, also Tingog party-list Rep. Andrew Julian Romualdez. The other author is Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre. Earlier, lawmakers from the House and the Senate also filed a joint resolution opening all bicameral conference committee deliberations on the national budget to the public, conducted in person or through digital live streaming. Likewise, the joint resolution requires the bicameral conference panel to produce a matrix comparing the differences between the House of Representatives' and the Senate's versions of the bill, and how these differences were resolved. Authors of the Open Bicam Resolution in the House include: ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, Albay Rep. Krisel Lagman, Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene Bag-ao, and Akbayan party-list Reps. Chel Diokno, Perci Cendaña, and Dadah Ismula. The Senate counterpart of the joint resolution is authored by Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Risa Hontiveros, Migz Zubiri, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, and Bam Aquino. Aquino and Pangilinan are the only senators from the majority bloc who signed on the Open Bicam Joint Resolution. 'The President mentioned about flood control projects bypassing the legitimate process, and we want the budget process to be transparent and accountable. This [Joint Resolution] is in response to the President's call for good governance and fighting corruption during his SONA,' Lagman told reporters.—AOL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
2 hours ago
- GMA Network
PhilConsa calls on SC to revisit ruling on Sara Duterte impeachment
'A blueprint for evasion.' This was how the Philippine Constitution Association (PhilConsa) described the Supreme Court ruling that barred the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte as it called on the High Court to revisit its decision and for the Senate impeachment court to proceed with the trial. 'This ruling invites dangerous abuse. It opens the door for impeachable officials—or their allies—to deliberately file weak or premature complaints to 'consume' the one-year window and block any real effort at accountability,' it said in a statement. 'This is not a safeguard against harassment—it is a blueprint for evasion,' it added. PhilConsa is chaired by retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno. To recall, three impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte in December 2024, all of which were connected with the alleged misuse of confidential funds. It was the fourth impeachment complaint that was endorsed by over one-third of lawmakers from the House of Representatives, and was later transmitted to the Senate as the Articles of Impeachment. In its ruling, the SC declared that the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte are barred by the one-year rule under Article XI, Section 3(5) of the Constitution. The SC ruled that the one-year ban is reckoned from the time an impeachment complaint is dismissed or is no longer viable. It ruled that the first three complaints were deemed terminated or dismissed when the House endorsed the fourth complaint. According to PhilConsa, the ruling overreached constitutional boundaries, disrupted the separation of powers, and weakened Congress' exclusive authority to hold impeachable officers accountable. It stressed that that the SC previously held that impeachment is only deemed initiated after the complaint is found sufficient in form and substance and referred to the Committee on Justice. 'The earlier complaints never reached that stage. To treat them as having 'initiated' proceedings defies both logic and constitutional intent,' PhilConsa said. Aside from this, PhilConsa argued that the doctrine of operative fact should have applied. It said the principle recognizes the legal effects of acts done in good faith under a law or process that was later declared unconstitutional. PhilConsa said that the Senate has already convened as an impeachment court and that Duterte has filed her formal answer after being served summons. 'All these were done in good faith, based on long-standing jurisprudence and the clear text of the Constitution,' it said. 'To declare all those acts null and void—after the process had matured to the point of trial—is not only legally harsh, it is institutionally destabilizing. The doctrine exists precisely to prevent this outcome,' it added. It said that invoking the doctrine does not violate due process as Duterte was given the opportunity to defend herself. Meanwhile, PhilConsa said the SC should have acted with judicial restraint. 'This ruling, though perhaps well-intentioned, is a clear instance of judicial activism. It turns the Judiciary from a neutral guardian of the Constitution into an arbiter of congressional timing and internal processes—matters the Constitution never assigned to the courts,' it said. 'Judicial activism, if unchecked, becomes judicial supremacy. And that supremacy can, over time, paralyze the political departments that the people themselves empowered,' it added. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
13 hours ago
- GMA Network
UN sounds alarm on SE Asia scam center surge
Barbed wire fences are seen outside a shuttered Great Wall Park compound where Cambodian authorities said they had recovered evidence of human trafficking, kidnapping and torture during raids on suspected cybercrime compounds in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, Cambodia September 21, 2022. REUTERS/ Cindy Liu/ File photo GENEVA, Switzerland - Human trafficking for forced criminal activity is growing at an alarming rate, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped in online scamming centers across Southeast Asia, the United Nations said Wednesday. Too often, instead of getting help, victims are arrested for crimes they were forced to commit, the head of the UN's migration agency said on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. "Trafficking is a human rights crisis, but it's more than that. It's a massive global business that fuels corruption, spreads fear, and prays on the most vulnerable," Amy Pope said. Her International Organization for Migration agency has witnessed trafficking for forced crime expand with "alarming" speed, she said. "Right now, across Southeast Asia, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in online scamming compounds," the IOM chief said. "These operations bring in an estimated $40 billion a year, and many of those trapped are migrants, young jobseekers, children, and people with disabilities." She said the Geneva-based IOM had helped nearly 3,000 victims rebuild their lives since 2022. The agency has helped bring people home from the Philippines and Vietnam and supported victims in Thailand, Myanmar, and beyond, Pope said. But she warned that far more remained stranded. "To make matters worse, instead of getting help, they're often arrested, prosecuted, and punished. Let me be clear: no-one should be jailed for something they were forced to do," she said. She urged governments and civil society to step up and get national laws changed so that trafficking survivors could be protected rather than punished -- and urged authorities to go after the traffickers rather than those they exploit. Myanmar's many-sided civil war -- sparked by a 2021 coup -- has enabled the rapid growth of lucrative internet fraud factories established in its loosely governed borderlands. Cyberscam operations lure foreign workers with promises of high-paying jobs but hold them hostage and force them to commit online fraud. Many of the trafficking victims are Chinese men. Many people have said they were trafficked into often heavily fortified scam compounds to target victims with romance or business scams on social media, luring them into making untraceable cryptocurrency payments. — Agence France-Presse
