House panel issues show-cause order vs CA justices

The House of Representatives committee on good government and public accountability has ordered three Court of Appeals justices to explain why they should not be cited in contempt for ordering the release of the so-called Ilocos Six.

The committee members unanimously voted, 30-0, to issue a show-cause order for Associate Justices Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonino-Valenzuela, escalating a confrontation between the legislature and the judiciary.

The motion was raised by Oriental Mindoro 2nd Dist. Rep. Reynaldo Umali and seconded by Oriental Mindoro 1st Dist. Rep. Paulino Salvador Leachon, during the continuation of the probe on the Ilocos Norte province’s alleged misuse of P66.45-million tobacco tax proceeds.

Umali called himself a “defender of this institution” and said the move to require the justices to speak up at the risk of a contempt citation was meant to “equalize our situation.”

It may be recalled that the CA Special Fourth Division ordered House Sergeant-at-Arms Ronald Detabali to explain why he should not be cited in contempt for defying the order to release the provincial officials who have been detained since May 29 for failing to give satisfactory answers.

But, the House leadership has insisted that the CA cannot take jurisdiction over its actions being a separate branch of government from the judiciary. It said its coequal is the Supreme Court and not the CA, which is a step lower in the hierarchy.

“The Sergeant-at-Arms is now being asked to show cause when it should be the justices who initiated this issue and confronted this separate but coequal branch of government of the SC to be put in the situation where we are now,” Umali said.

He said the CA should not be allowed to pursue its action, because it opens up the possibility of lower courts like the Regional Trial Court issuing a writ of habeas corpus against the House.

“This is something that should never be allowed because it violates our mandate [in] Congress and it is in violation of the principles of separation of power and the principles of checks and balances,” he said.

Leachon said the justices showed “gross ignorance of the law” in ordering the release of the provincial employees.

Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas also pointed out that the legal team of the Ilocos Six did not even implead the House or its good government committee in its petition, depriving the legislature of the opportunity to be heard.

He noted that the Sergeant-at-Arms cannot act without the House’s permission without being cited in contempt too or even fired.

Fariñas added that the CA’s actions would “render toothless the contempt powers of the House.”

The Ilocos Six refers to the following employees: provincial planning and development officer and bids and awards committee chair Pedro Agcaoili, provincial budget officer Evangeline Tabulog, provincial treasurer Josephine Calajate, accountant Eden Battulayan, and treasury office staff Genedine Jambaro and Encarnacion Gaor.

Ilocos Norte 2nd Dist. Rep. Imelda Marcos, the mother of Governor Imee Marcos and widow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, tried to appeal for the Ilocos Six’s release on humanitarian grounds. But, the committee denied the request during the Tuesday afternoon hearing.

Fariñas initiated the probe on the alleged misuse of the funds to purchase government vehicles without public bidding. The levy proceeds were supposedly meant for the benefit of the province’s tobacco farmers.