Lawmakers at the House of Representatives
MANILA, Philippines — Former mayor Teddy Tumang of Pampanga’s Mexico town has been cited for contempt and ordered detained for 30 days at the House of Representatives facility for leaking details supposedly mentioned during an executive hearing.
During the House committee on dangerous drugs’ hearing on Wednesday, Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop moved to cite Tumang for contempt, to be fair with people cited for the same due to violation of House rules.
This was for publicly talking about details mentioned in a closed-door meeting between lawmakers and select anti-drug officers regarding the two drug busts conducted in Pampanga last August and September 2023.
“Mr. Chair, to be consistent and fair with the others who we have also cited for contempt for similar violations of our rules, may I move that we cite former mayor Tumang for contempt Mr. Chair, so moved,” Acop said.
Committee chairperson and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers approved the motion.
Last October 13, Barbers said that Tumang may be cited for contempt after he held a press briefing where he discussed one of the points raised during the closed-door meeting.
Barbers initially did not reveal what Tumang said in the briefing, but in the video uploaded on Facebook, the former mayor said Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. was supposedly asking National Bureau of Investigation agents if Tumang is really involved in the drug issue.
Tumang in the interview asked lawmakers, particularly Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., not to drag him into the issue and keep politics aside.
In an ambush interview after the committee hearing, Barbers explained that what Tumang did was a clear violation of the House rules, particularly the rules on procedure on inquiry in aid of legislation.
“He violated the provision of Section 7 wherein all information taken, recorded during an executive session cannot be publicly disclosed unless there is an approval from the committee members, from majority of the committee members,” Barbers said.
“In this case he said something that was supposedly from an executive session, an information which we feel is maligning the person of our members, Senior Deputy Speaker Gonzales. So that should not be the case, the resource person must respect the committee and its rules. So with that very clear, may violation, we cited him in contempt,” he added.
READ: Ex-Pampanga mayor may be cited in contempt for leaking executive session talks
The executive hearing commenced after the panel launched its investigation on the two consecutive high-profile illegal drug busts in Pampanga. One of the operations — a controlled delivery — centered on a warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino, Mexico town.
It was Gonzales who filed the resolution asking to probe the drug seizures in Mexico and another in Mabalacat, Pampanga.
Tumang meanwhile was dragged into the controversy after it was revealed that the warehouse where the controlled delivery operation happened, said to be owned by a certain Willy Ong of Empire 999 Realty Corporation, might have been built on land once owned by the former mayor’s brother.
READ: Land where Pampanga ‘shabu’ warehouse stood was owned by ex-mayor’s bro
Over 500 kilograms of shabu were seized in the controlled delivery operation — which led the law enforcement groups and the Bureau of Customs from the Port of Subic to the warehouse in Pampanga.
The value of the illegal substance was said to be over P3.6 billion.
This is not the first time that the House scolded Tumang. Last July 27, lawmakers warned Tumang that he may be cited in contempt for skipping a House committee on public accounts hearing on the allegedly anomalous transactions entered by the local government of Mexico when he was still mayor.
The hearings of the committee on public accounts were set after a private citizen asked Congress to look into the transactions flagged by the Commission on Audit, questioning why the Office of the Ombudsman has not yet addressed the issue.
During that time, Tumang was still the incumbent local chief executive. However, he was dismissed from his post after the Ombudsman found him and three other municipal officials found guilty following the anomalous purchases of construction materials.