Only two senators were censured, including Enrile

Only two senators were recorded to have been censured by the Philippine Senate in recent history and one of them is Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. Enrile, who presided over Wednesday’s session that planned to censure Senator Manuel Villar for amassing profits from a road project, was himself reprimanded by the chamber. In 1988, the senator – then a minority leader – was reproached for wrongly naming Paul Aquino, brother of then-senator Agapito Aquino, as chairman of the Security Bank in one of his speeches. Paul Aquino wrote the Senate about the error, denying he was part of the bank and sought Enrile’s censure. Upon being informed of his mistake, Enrile immediately corrected himself and owned up the error. Aquino's letter was referred to the Senate committee on ethics and privileges, headed by Senator Rene Saguisag, which, after two meetings, recommended the censure. The chamber promptly adopted it. Part of the recommendation read: "A man's name is priceless, more valuable than life itself, in fact. In the same manner that it is no excuse to say that someone did not mean to main or kill a victim he has run over to taint somebody else's name because of lack of proper investigation could likewise be harmful, to say the least." "The ends of justice are believed to be sufficiently served however by a reminder (‘reminder’ was a term used by Mr. Paul Aquino himself) to Senator Enrile to be more circumspect in the future," the document read. In an interview with reporters, Enrile said no one among his colleagues at that time took his side but he accepted the decision just the same. "I was all alone," he said. “There was no voting because the majority realized that they would make a hero out of me if they voted." Senator reprimanded for clearing police official In 1995, then-senator Heherson Alvarez was admonished for writing a letter to then-National Police Director General Recaredo Sarmiento that cleared an official allegedly involved in a pyramiding scam in the police force. He wrote the letter while he was chair of the chamber’s Blue Ribbon committee, which, at that time, was still investigating the matter. Alvarez was also warned that any similar transgressions in the future will be dealt with more severely. The ethics committee, then headed by Senator Juan Flavier, found that there was lack of care in the actions of Alvarez when he drafted and transmitted the letter. Alvarez's act exposed the Senate body to questions regarding its objectivity in the conduct of investigations, the committee said. However, this was mitigated when the committee recommended the prosecution of Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Supt. Virgilio Odulio. In 1990, Alvarez – also as a senator – faced a Senate probe after being linked to illegal shipments of narra lumber/ flitches from Isabela province and Quirino province, documents from the Senate Legislative Records and Archives Service said. He was later found not guilty. Senators who faced probe but were found not guilty Documents from the Senate Legislative Records and Archives Service also identified other senators who faced a Senate probe but were later not found guilty. In 1996, during the 10th Congress, Senator Freddie Webb was investigated for alleged abuse of authority and probable violation of laws in the employment of his son Hubert Webb in the Senate Electoral Tribunal. This was after Webb claimed that his son, a suspect in the celebrated Vizconde massacre, was in the United States from March 9, 1991 to October 28, 1992 when his daily time record showed that he went to work, from 9 am to 6 pm. The younger Webb was found guilty of the murder. In 1997, the Sandiganbayan promulgated a resolution ordering the suspension of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. The chamber’s ethics committee ruled that the Sandiganbayan cannot order the Senate to implement a senator’s suspension since this will violate the principle of separation of powers. The ethics committee also said that the resolution is not sufficient to warrant the suspension of Santiago. During the same year, Senators Vicente 'Tito' Sotto III, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Nikki Coseteng and Alberto Romulo were linked, in media reports, with suspected drug lords and illegal drug trade. They were also found not guilty. In 2000, during the 11th Congress, the late senator Renato Cayetano was accused of committing impropriety for attending the promulgation of judgement in the Vizconde case. He was also found not guilty. - GMANews.TV