Trillanes to lose Senate oversight committee – Enrile

From: philstar.com

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday revealed that Sen. Antonio Trilanes IV will lose the chairmanship of the Senate Oversight Committee.

“To save the Senate some P10 million,” Enrile said in a radio interview.

Enrile also said since Trillanes has joined the minority, he will be removed from the Senate Electoral Tribunal. But Trillanes said he will not give up his committees because he is entitled to it.

Enrile said Trillanes does not deserve to be a senator and he has no plans of mending his severed ties with him.

Both Enrile and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. had earlier denied that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called them to fast-track the passage of the measure on the division of Camarines Sur.

But Trillanes maintained that another senator confirmed to him that Mrs. Arroyo indeed tried to facilitate the passage of the Camsur bill.  

Malacañang, meanwhile, said it has no idea whether Trillanes’ reported 16 meetings with Chinese officials in Beijing were indeed authorized and paid for by the government.

Enrile said intelligence officers of China’s Liberation Army helped Trillanes in establishing contacts in Beijing while he was supposedly doing backdoor negotiations with China with 

the blessings of President Aquino.

Enrile also claimed that during one of his visits in Beijing, Trillanes allegedly went with some businessmen of Chinese descent. 

Trillanes, in a separate interview, accused Enrile of lying.

He denied that there were some business considerations in his negotiations with China.  ###