DONNING colorful wigs, a youth group on Wednesday trooped to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to call for the resignation of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
A dozen members the group YouthRESIST delivered to the DOJ an 807-page petition, calling for Aguirre's resignation, with 17,000 signatures gathered through the online platform change.org.
Shamah Bulangis, co-convenor of YouthRESIST, said the protest dubbed as "Wig ka pasaway, Aguirre resign!" is in response to Aguirre's "collection of kapalpakan (flubdub)."
Aguirre had been labeled as "fake news king" for misinforming the public and making unsubstantiated claims against the members of the opposition.
"Aguirre's commitment to justice is as fake as his hair," Bulangis said.
The youth leader added Aguirre should resign as he uses his office to attack members of the opposition with fake news and fake cases.
Aguirre earlier threatened to file an ethics complaint against Senator Risa Hontiveros, a member of the Senate minority, for showing a screenshot of his text messages allegedly ordering a supposed member of the anti-crime group to expedite the case to be filed against the senator.
Aguirre said he will file criminal complaints against Hontiveros for three counts of violation of the RA 4200, or the Wire Tapping Act, before the Office of the Ombudsman, a civil case with the Regional Trial Court and an ethics complaint before the Senate.
The heated exchanges between the two government officials stemmed from Hontiveros' initiative to have under her custody the witnesses into the killing of 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos, the teenager killed by Caloocan police officers in an anti-drug operation on August 16.
Hontiveros earlier said she will not allow the witnesses to be under the DOJ's Witness Protection Program, as it is like bringing the sheep into the lion's den, noting Aguirre is biased against the victim.
Hontiveros also called on Aguirre to resign, but the latter refused, saying he will stay as long as President Rodrigo Duterte trusts him. (SunStar Philippines)