Blood may be thicker than water, but Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said "delicadeza" may dilute it.
Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, has vowed to inhibit from deliberations on plagiarism complaints filed against his sister, Senator Pia Cayetano.
"I always looked forward to having a chance to judge her but now that it falls on this committee and I am the chair, I think it is but logical for me not to participate," Cayetano said.
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Cayetano added that he has been avoiding his sister and ignoring her calls since the ethics complaint was filed Wednesday afternoon to avoid public perception that she is trying to influence him.
The former Taguig congressman also promised to cut all lines of communication between him and his sister until rules on the hearings for the ethics case have been finalized.
"I instructed my staff not to give any special treatment. If they ask for a copy of the complaint, we cannot give it until the committee had passed the rule," Cayetano said.
"I don't want it to come from me but if you get it from the archive or from the complainant, that is not a violation of the rules," he clarified.
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Pia is facing an ethics complaint filed by Alberto Loquez Ong Jr. who accused the lady senator of "abusing and misusing her knowledge of the law" by delivering speeches without proper attribution.
Citing a blogger, Ong claimed that two paragraphs from Cayetano's speech on the controversial Reproductive Health bill had been copied from a presentation of Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde.
He also noted some parts of Cayetano's privilege speech delivered in June about World Environment Day were lifted without proper attribution from United Nations Environment Programme statement.
But the lady senator denied the allegation, saying she "has always acknowledged the intellectual property right of every writer."
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