Jack Arroyo: Blue Ribbon panel has no authority to arrest me

One of the personalities accused of fronting for Vice President Jejomar Binay has written the Senate Blue Ribbon committee asking it to repeal an arrest order issued against  him, saying the committee does not have the power to do so.

 

In a letter dated Aug. 26, 2015 and addressed to committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Jack Arroyo, said to be the incorporator in a joint venture with the University of Makati that built an allegedly overpriced nursing building, told the committee it can only cite him for contempt during hearings.

Arroyo, along with other alleged Binay dummies who have been absent at hearings, was ordered arrested on Tuesday, Aug. 26, for failing to appear before senators.

 

"We concede that the committee can cite a resource person for contempt and cause his detention. However, the committee can enforce that power only when the same resource person is actually before the committee and defies that order," he said in a letter sent through the Yorac Law Firm.

 

Arroyo said that only judges can issue arrest orders and that the Senate cannot overrule the Bill of Rights "through its Rules of Procedure, by granting themselves the forbidden power of arrest."

 

Under Sec. 18 of the Senate Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation, committees, by a majority vote of all members "may punish for contempt any witness before it who disobeys any order of the Committee or refuses to be sworn or to testify or to answer a proper question by the Committee or any of its members, or testifying, testifies falsely or evasively."

 

But Arroyo pointed out that he has never been before the committee, and that he was unable to attend hearings by the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee. He said he was on a medical mission when the summons was served at his residence.

 

"What am I going to testify on? On a subject no witness has ever alleged that I participated in? In fact, I never defied any committee order. I signified early on that I would cooperate with the committee," he said.

 

He claimed that the committee arbitrarily cited him for contempt and ordered his arrest.

 

Arroyo added that the Senate sergeant-at-arms can only serve summonses, and not arrest warrants.

Dr. Jack Arroyo's letter to Senate

 

During a hearing in May, lawyer Renato Bondal, alleged that Arroyo was a dummy for Vice President Binay, allegations of corruption against whom the Senate sub-committee has been holding a year-long investigation into.
 

“Itong si Dr. Jack Arroyo. Ang specialty nya ay ophthalmology. Wala syang kuneksyon sa anumang nursing school. Hindi siya myembro ng anumang private school pero bigla syang binigyan ng 20%. Bakit kaya? Yan po ang katanungan na iisa lang ang kasagutan. Bakit sya kasama sa PHEI [Philippine Health Educators Inc.] samantalang wala syang kaugnayan sa UMak, di sya opisyal ng Makati, o ng nursing school, o STI [Systems Technology Institute]. Sagot. Si Jack Arroyo ang nominee dummy ni VP Binay,” Bondal said.

 

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, sub-committee chairman, said then that Bondal should substantiate his claim.

 

"Sa next hearing, sana bigyan ninyo naman ng substance yung alegasyon na yan ... yung overpriced na building and even yung alegasyon na dummy lang si Dr. Jack Arroyo e meron naman siyang mga investment talaga sa ibang businesses. So he is a doctor by profession and also a businessman," he said in May.

The vice president has repeatedly denied the allegations, claiming they are political in nature. He and his family have also dismissed the Senate investigation as part of a campaign to discredit him.

GMA News Online tried to reach Sen. Guingona for comment, and to ask what the committee plans to do in response to the letter. He and his staff have yet to respond as of this post.

Sen. Pimentel has yet to reply to a similar query from GMA News Online. — JDS/NB, GMA News