Detained Ilocos Norte officials eye charges vs. House members

Six Ilocos Norte officials are thinking about filing charges against officials of the House of Representatives, for having them detained after giving “dismissive” answers about the provincial government’s alleged misuse of tobacco funds.

Butch Catubay, legal counsel of the provincial officials, said his clients are eyeing criminal charges against those who “perpetrated the cruel, oppressive, and coercive interrogation” last May 29, when they appeared before the House committee on good government hearing about Ilocos Norte’s purchase of P66.45 million worth of motor vehicles, using its tobacco excise tax shares.

The following officials, who repeatedly told the committee that they could no longer remember the transactions in question, were ordered detained at the House Legislative Building:

• Evangeline Tabulog, provincial budget officer;
• Josephine Calajate, provincial treasurer;
• Pedro Agcaoili, Provincial Planning and Development Office chair; and
• Genedine Jambaro, Encarnacion Gaor, and Eden Battulayan of the Provincial Treasurer’s Office.

In a news release from the Ilocos Norte provincial government government, Catubay said the interrogation was “in violation of the Anti-Torture Law,” adding that if they do pursue such charges, it would be a landmark case since the law’s passage in 2009.

The lawyer said the six officials’ torture has been “continuous by their indefinite detention in degrading and inhuman conditions and direct assaults on their 'dignity as human persons' and blatant violations of their human rights.”

The detainees have sought relief from the Court of Appeals (CA), which has issued the writ of habeas corpus after they filed a petition saying their detention was illegal.

The CA has directed the House sergeant-at-arms, retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Detabali, to bring before it the detained officials.

Catubay said Detabali has yet to comply with the said directive.

The officials’ detention was approved upon the motion of Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, who sought the said inquiry and questioned them during the proceedings, and was supported by members of the House good government committee, headed by Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel.

Fariñas, a former Ilocos Norte governor, had tagged his successor, Governor Imee Marcos, in the allegedly illegal purchase.

The House good government panel also ruled to issue a subpoena against Marcos, who has missed both hearings where she was invited as resource person.

The governor has rallied behind the detained officials, and said the leadership of the House’s decision to “defy” the CA directive “was a complete display of arrogance of power and grave abuse of authority.”

On the other hand, Fariñas noted that the House, through the Office of the Solicitor General, has questioned the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals over the contempt powers of Congress.

“The Court of Appeals, or any court for that matter, cannot order the SAA without authority of the HOR. The Congress gets its powers through express constitutional grant; the CA's powers and functions are defined by Congress,” he told House reporters.

“For the HOR to surrender its contempt powers to the CA, such would negate the constitutional grant of legislative power to Congress,” he added. — BM, GMA News