CA member rebukes Yasay over destabilization claim

MANILA, Philipines — A member of the Commission on Appointments on Wednesday chided Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay for claiming that his appointment hurdles are due to a supposed destabilization plot against President Rodrigo Duterte.

At the confirmation hearing for Yasay's appointment, Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato raised the possibility that Yasay could be cited in contempt for airing his suspicions in a radio interview to suggest that CA members are involved in the plot.

"The actuation of the honorable secretary, at the very lease, is contemptuous of this commission," Sato, a member of the Liberal Party, said.

Sato also slammed Yasay and fellow administration officials for attributing "anything and everything that cannot be answered or explained" to the so-called plot to overthrow Duterte.

Yasay denied having alluded to the members of the appointing members, and said he was referring to news reports questioning his citizenship.

"I never mentioned that anybody questioning here my citizenship which is your duty, which is your obligation, is part of a destabilization effort," Yasay said.

READ: Citizenship question snags Yasay confirmation

Yasay also claimed the attacks against him regarding his citizenship by columnists are baseless.

"They were saying these things as an effort to show that I am incompetent, that I am disqualified as a ploy to embarrass, but never did I make that reference that it was anybody (in the CA)," Yasay said.

"God is my witness, my heart is open, I never said this," Yasay said.

Ramirez-Sato, dissatisfied by Yasay's answers at an earlier confirmation hearing in February, pressed the secretary to state whether or not he was ever a US citizen.

Yasay, however, said he could not give a categorical answer as he confirmed having been a US citizen despite an earlier statement that he did not become an American.

Ramirez-Sato, for her part, expressed her hope that God will "enlighten (Yasay) to tell the truth."

"And I would like to tell you Mr. Secretary that the loyalty to the party, my loyalty to my party stops when my loyalty to the country begins," Ramirez-Sato added.

Francis Pangilinan, a member of the CA and the president of the Liberal Party, also denied that there are any destabilization efforts, urging Yasay to prove his claims.

"Otherwise, these reckless statements are not only unnecessary but unacceptable," Pangilinan said.