Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Bayan Muna Representative Neri J. Colmenares defended ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio from possible ethics charge being proposed by a member of the House of Representatives.
In a statement released Tuesday, Colmenares said that the proposed ethics charge being pushed by Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe is “baseless.”
He said the move is a repeat of the tactic of the administration of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal.
Colmenares said that Tinio did not violate the wiretapping law as the hearings he recorded were done by public officials discussing the allocation of public funds in a public venue.
He also said that the law is only applicable to a private conversation.
Colmenares also added that under Section 7 of the rules of the House on inquiries in aid of legislation, an executive session is only limited to cases that involves threats to national security.
“There is no way that a hearing on CHED scholarships can threaten national security. Additionally, executive sessions cannot be used to commit or cover up a crime,” Colmenares said.
The representative of Bayan Muna also said that Arroyo used the Anti-Wiretapping Law to threaten those who exposed the electoral fraud in 2004.
The defense of Colmenares came after Batocabe said Monday that Tinio may be held criminally liable for recording an executive session with Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) chair Patricia Licuanan with lawmakers about its scholarship program.
Executive sessions in nature, Batocabe said, should not be recorded.
Tinio used the recording as part of his evidence in the impeachment complaint against President Benigno Aquino III filed by Tinio and National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera.
Tinio alleged that Licuanan told lawmakers they may recommend scholarship programs using the budget allotted to the agency and he viewed this as a new form of “hidden” pork funds.
The fourth impeachment complaint against Aquino was junked by the House Committee on Justice as the complaint did not reach the plenary in time for the committee referral and would have to wait for next year to be filed.
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