MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio has accused the House of Representatives quad-committee of abusing its power to cite resource persons for contempt after the actions of his client, Whirlwind Corporation stakeholder Katherine Cassandra Ong, were deemed contemptible again.
Topacio in an interview with House reporters on Friday pointed to Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen “Caraps” Paduano as one of the lawmakers behind the abuse of contempt orders.
Topacio cited jurisprudence — particularly a case against the Senate blue ribbon committee filed by Pharmally executive Lincoln Ong — where the Supreme Court said that there should be due process before a resource person of Congress is cited for contempt.
“Our lawmakers are not following the Supreme Court decision which stated that if you accuse someone of contempt of the committee, there should be due process first, they should let the resource person explain. That’s a 2023 case, that was about Pharmally where Mr. Lincoln Ong was cited for contempt, which the Supreme Court voided,” Topacio said in Filipino.
“And they cannot say that ‘you’re lying,’ Paduano is the number one abuser of contempt powers of the House of Representatives. He does not know the extent of the institutional damage that he causes to the House of Representatives. A person is not lying just because you have a different opinion from what she’s saying,” he added.
READ: SC voids arrest of Pharmally execs but affirms contempt power of Senate
Topacio said this after Ong, who appeared before the sixth quad-committee hearing held on Thursday, was cited for contempt due to her failure to directly answer lawmakers’ questions.
It was Paduano, chair of the House committee on public accounts, who made the motion to cite Ong for contempt.
READ: Cassandra Ong cited for contempt again for refusing to answer at hearing
Ong was being asked by the quad-committee lead presiding officer and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers about her educational attainment, to which she responded by saying that she did not finish elementary school.
However, Barbers and Bukidnon 2nd District Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores showed photos of Ong wearing a blue toga and a graduation cap. Ong then maintained that she was only posing for photos at the graduation party and ceremonies for alternative learning system (ALS) students.
READ: Cassandra Ong insists she didn’t graduate despite grad photos
Topacio said lawmakers swore an oath to protect people’s rights, and that should include a resource person’s decision to remain silent.
“Contempt is deprivation of liberty […] they are trying to disregard the right to remain silent, due to reasons I cannot understand. What I am saying is, the right to remain silent is in the Constitution,” he said.
“When you take your oath of office, you swear to uphold and protect all the laws of the Philippines, including the Constitution. Why are they the ones violating the laws? I want to remind them, they are lawmakers, not laws themselves,” he added.
Topacio said they will write a letter to the quad-committee to inform lawmakers of their position.
But as for the House committee on public order and safety chairperson and Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, Paduano’s actions did not abuse the powers vested upon Congress.
“You have to remember Section 11 of the rules of the quad-comm was not approved by the quad-comm alone. This was approved by the 300 plus members of the House during the start of the 19th Congress. Everybody approved these rules. And we were elected by the people and thereby the decision of every member of the House is the decision of the whole country because we are representing them,” he said.
“Now, question: did Chairman Caraps abuse his power of authority? No. It’s [within] the authority that was given by the House of Representatives under Section 11 of our rules,” he added.
Fernandez said that not penalizing lying resource persons might set a precedent where individuals would no longer tell the truth.
“Now, if what we will do during hearings is to be lenient about their continuous attempts to lie and we will not be employing the power of Section 11 in citing the resource persons in contempt, then what will prevent those other resource persons not to speak truthfully?” he asked.
Ong’s educational attainment has been a topic that she refused to discuss in the past hearings. During the quad-committee’s hearing last August 29, Ong was also cited for contempt for not cooperating with lawmakers as she refused to answer questions directly.
The motion to cite Ong for contempt, however, was lifted before the hearing ended as she answered lawmakers’ questions.
Lawmakers from the quad-committee believe that Ong, who holds a 58 percent stake at Whirlwind Corporation — the company that leased land in Porac, Pampanga to Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub Lucky South 99 — is crucial to their investigation.
During the September 4 hearing, Ong admitted that Whirlwind’s top boss, a certain Duanren Wu who happens to be her godfather, is a former Chinese cop.