Speaker taunts CA over release order for detained Ilocos Norte employees

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday stood firm against the Court of Appeals, having choice words for the justices who ordered that the detained Ilocos Norte provincial government employees be brought before it.

In a text message to reporters, Alvarez, a lawyer, said: “That’s gross ignorance of the law. Mga gago ‘yang tatlong justices na ‘yan!”

The Speaker was asked to react after the CA Special Fourth Division, led by Acting Presiding Justice Stephen Cruz, started its contempt of court proceedings against him and the House Sergeant-at-Arms, retired Lt. Gen. Roland Detabali.

The said division issued show cause orders against the two, asking them to explain why they have refused to present before the appellate court the six employees, who were detained in the House premises after appearing before the inquiry on the provincial government’s allegedly irregular purchase of P66.45 million worth of motor vehicles using tobacco funds.

The following employees were detained after they were cited in contempt for “dismissive” answers during the hearing, when they said they could no longer remember the transactions in question:

• Pedro Agcaoili, chair of the bids and awards committee and the provincial and planning development unit;
• Josephine Calajate, provincial treasurer;
• Edna Battulayan, accountant;
• Evangeline Tabulog, provincial budget officer; and
• Genedine Jambaro and Encarnacion Gaor, who are assigned at the treasury office.

Their detention was made upon the motion of Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, a former Ilocos Norte governor who sought the said inquiry, tagging his successor, Governor Imee Marcos, in the allegedly irregular purchase.

The employees’ lawyers, led by former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, said Detabali has rejected a third attempt to serve the release order. The CA earlier granted the petition seeking the writ of habeas corpus.

Marcos, who is set to be subpoenaed for the next House panel hearing on the purchase of vehicles, had also expressed her support for the employees. — BM, GMA News