Bongbong visits 6 Ilocos Norte officials detained for contempt
Former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
Former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos on Thursday visited the six Ilocos Norte provincial government officials detained at the House of Representatives for contempt.
In an ambush interview with reporters, Marcos said he checked up on the situation of the provincial government officials who remained detained despite winning a writ of habeas corpus from the Court of Appeals (CA).
The lower House has defied the CA order to present the detained officials in court, with its leaders maintaining Congress’ separation of powers from the judiciary.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had even cursed at the justices who granted the writ of habeas corpus. The CA has started its contempt proceedings after it ordered Alvarez and other House officials to explain why they should not be cited in contempt.
READ: Alvarez keeps local execs detained at House in defiance of CA order
Marcos said the officials were detained upon the orders of majority leader Rudy Fariñas, even though these officials were once provincial government employees when Fariñas was the Ilocos Norte governor.
“The proponent of all of this is Congressman Farinas and he has decided that Congress should defy the order of the CA,” Marcos said.
The officials have been detained for 17 days already, especially after the House Sergeant-At-Arms refused for the third time to receive the CA’s release order of the provincial government officials, Marcos said.
READ: House defies CA anew on ‘Ilocos 6;’ contempt vs Alvarez readied
“It is now their 17th day despite order from the Court of Appeals that they be released and granted bail. Hindi pinapa-serve sa sheriff ‘yung order, kaya nakakaawa naman. Pinuntahan ko’t makita ko naman kasi mga tao ko ito eh (The release orders cannot be served to the sheriff. So it’s really pitiful. I paid them a visit to see the situation of my people),” Marcos said.
“Actually, they were also employees of Rudy Fariñas when he was governor of Ilocos Norte … Mga tao rin niya ‘yan (They were also his people), now presently staff in the governor’s office under governor Imee. That is the situation now,” Marcos added.
Marcos slammed the officials’ detention as “cruel” and “unprecedented,” and that their only fault was that Fariñas did not like their answers during the lower House inquiry into the provincial government’s use of tobacco funds.
“Ang mga dinedetain dito, iyong mga nagbobomba, iyong pumapatay ng tao. Ito, dahil mukhang hindi lang nagustuhan ang sagot nila doon sa hearing, kinulong na lang sila (Those who should be detained are the bombers and the murderers. These people, however, were detained only because they didn’t like their answers),” Marcos said.
“We are pursuing every legal recourse that will be available to us for them to be released. Whatever the case that needs to be filed, we will answer that in court… But in the meantime, this is cruel and unusual,” Marcos added.
Marcos said he also visited the office of Speaker Alvarez and handed a latter appealing to immediately release the detained officials and to respect the CA order.
“Although we are separate branches of government, it is very rare that any branch defies the order of the judiciary, which is exactly what is happening now. And over what?” Marcos said.
In an interview at the Sandiganbayan, the Ilocos Norte officials’ lawyer former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza lamented Speaker Alvarez’s language toward the CA justices.
Mendoza also deemed it “very unfortunate,” “regrettable,” and “shocking” that the lower House is defying the CA.
“Ako naniniwala naman na mayroon pa tayo gobyerno, mayroon tayong Saligang Batas. Ang CA ay isang independent part of judiciary and judiciary is independent and separate part of government (I firmly believe that we still have a government, that we still have a Constitution. The CA is an independent part of the judiciary, and the judiciary is independent and a separate part of government),” Mendoza said.
The officials — Genedine D. Jambaro, Encarnacion A. Gaor, Josephine P. Calajate, Eden C. Battulayan, Evangeline C. Tabulog, and Pedro S. Agcaoili Jr – have been detained at the Batasan Complex since May 29 after being cited in contempt for failing to answer responsively to Fariñas questions
The House committee investigating the alleged tobacco funds misuse also subpoenaed Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, who snubbed the committee inquiry which she labeled as “political persecution.”
READ: House committee summons Imee Marcos for failure to attend hearings
It was Fariñas who filed House Resolution 882 calling for an investigation on the Ilocos Norte provincial government’s use of the excise taxes on locally-produced Virginia-type cigarettes which were allegedly misspent on minicabs, buses, and minitrucks even though the law Republic Act 7171 that imposed the tax on Virginia cigarettes states that these should be used for livelihood projects and infrastructure projects benefiting the tobacco farmers.
Fariñas is on his last term in Congress, raising speculations that he would challenge Marcos’s anointed one in the provincial capitol. Marcos is on her last term as governor.
The Fariñas and Marcos clans have been in a love-hate alliance that rocks the political atmosphere of Ilocos Norte every elections.
The Marcoses cut ties with the Fariñases in 2015, reportedly due to political differences. JE
READ: Marcoses’ One-Ilocos Norte crumbles
