MANILA, Philippines – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday, September 19, formally apologized to his party mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano for his “uncalled for” demeanor during the Senate probe into extrajudicial killings on Thursday, September 15.

“This is to express my apologies for my demeanor during last Thursday’s hearing of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes did not mention which demeanor he is referring to. But on Thursday, the 2 senators were embroiled in a heated word war. (READ: Senators face off at probe into killings: ‘Trash talk, out of order‘)

Trillanes ended up turning Cayetano’s microphone off while the latter was still speaking. Cayetano then accused Trillanes of “intimidation.”

Trillanes, for his part, said Cayetano had already maximized the allotted time for each senator with his “long and winding” statements against the witness, Edgar Matobato, who accused President Rodrigo Duterte of ordering killings in Davao City.

In a 1-page letter addressed to Cayetano, Trillanes said his act was caused by the heat of the moment.

“It was brought about because of the intense passion and emotion of the moment. Nonetheless, it was uncalled for,” Trillanes said.

He maintained such incident would not happen again.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, for his part, earlier called out Trillanes for his acts. (READ: Pimentel calls out Trillanes: ‘You don’t taunt, heckle fellow senator’)

Pimentel said what happened was lamentable, because senators should not take the law into their own hands.

Referring to Trillanes, Pimentel said: “Do not take the law or the rules into your own hands na ikaw na mismo ang papatay nung mikropono ng kapwa mo senador. Magkapantay po kayo. Respeto lang po. (that you are the one turning off the microphone of your fellow senator. You are of equal levels. Just give respect.)”

Pimentel and Cayetano are allies of President Rodrigo Duterte while Trillanes is one of the chief executive’s strongest critics since the 2016 campaign. – Rappler.com