Contempt rap vs Harry Roque not overkill, say House panels

Harry Roque —PHOTO FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FB PAGE

The House of Representatives’ quad committee leaders on Friday denied being “overzealous and overkill” in its issuances of contempt citations and detention orders against its resource persons, arguing that this was well within their powers and only against contemptible violations.

Speaking to reporters, panel co-chairs Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said the House’s contempt orders were in line with the rules and designed so that their resource persons respected the committee’s investigations.

In any case, Barbers said, resource persons are only supposed to follow simple rules: not to lie or evade questions; not to misbehave and insult the committee.

“If there was a contemptible act among our resource persons, then a penalty must be imposed. That is what our rules say,” Barbers said. “That is not because we’re overzealous. We’re overzealous only in trying to ferret out the truth.”

“We’re not just issuing contempt orders willy-nilly,” Fernandez said. “If you’re too lenient also, people take the investigation for granted. We issue a lot of invitations and they don’t even make a letter of excuse or if they make a letter of excuse, you know they’re trying to deceive us.”

Their sentiments follow former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s contempt citation during the quad committee’s second hearing on Thursday, supposedly for lying about his absence during the panel’s first hearing on Aug. 16.

24-hour detention

Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo, Roque’s estranged former party mate and godson, was the one who made the motion to cite him in contempt and to have him detained for 24 hours after showing the panel a certification that Roque was not in a Manila court hearing that day as he said.

READ: Harry Roque cited for contempt after lying about absence in House probe

The former spokesperson, who claimed it was an honest mistake and that he just mixed up the dates, said the punishment was “unwarranted and an abuse of power.”

But the two quad committee chairs were unfazed by his alibi, pointing out that when he had written an excuse letter to the committee, he had placed Aug. 16 as the date.

“We don’t believe it was an honest mistake … is it really that easy to make excuses before the committee and should we just let things like this slide? We’ve cited in contempt people who not only lied, but also violated our rules,” Barbers said.

He warned that Roque could face stiffer penalties if he does another contemptible act.

Fernandez likewise warned all future resource persons in the committee to “not make false excuses because we mean business, because national security is at stake. We hope that everybody we will invite as resource persons will be cooperating.”

Before Roque’s contempt citation, there were at least 36 people also cited in contempt under the 19th Congress.

The lower chamber’s power to cite people in contempt rests in Section 11 of the Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation of the 19th Congress, which refers to “refusal without legal excuse to obey summons.”

In 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed that Congress’ power to cite people in contempt—which is not expressly provided in the Constitution but recognized as an inherent power of Congress—“permits either [chamber] to perform its duties without impediment as it enables the Senate or the House of Representatives to legislate wisely or effectively because they have the power to compel the availability of information necessary in shaping legislation.”