Alvarez curses at CA justices for ordering release of Ilocos Norte officials

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday blasted three justices of the appellate court for ordering the release of six Ilocos Norte provincial government officials detained allegedly for being uncooperative during a hearing.

In an interview with DZMM radio, Alvarez defiantly declared that the Court of Appeals had no jurisdiction over the Congress.

He added that the CA could not tell the Congress what it should do as he warned that the justices who released the order might face disbarment cases.

“Ngayon, kaya itong mga tatlong g***** justices na ito, dapat ito… magpa-file kami ng disbarment cases for ignorance of the law, itong justices na ito,” he said. “Mga b**ang ba, b**ang.”

“[P]ara sa akin, ay talagang wala silang jurisdiction sa amin. Sino sila para manduhan yung Kongreso kung ano ang dapat naming gawin?” Alvarez said.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives defied for the third time the order of the CA to release the six employees of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte ordered detained by the Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability for saying that they could not remember the purchases they processed amounting to millions of pesos.

Still detained at the House are Pedro Agcaoili, provincial planning and development office chairman; Eden Battulayan, provincial accountant; Josephine Calahate, provincial treasurer; Encarnacion Gaor, staff of the provincial treasurer’s office; Genedine Jambaro, staff of the provincial treasurer’s office and Evangeline Tabulog, provincial budget officer.

The Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability has been investigating allegations of irregularity attending the purchase of motor vehicles. More than P66 million of tobacco funds were used to buy the said vehicles.

Alvarez said the provincial government bought unregistered second-hand multi cabs which cost P480,000 each.

He said the purchase of these vehicles did not undergo bidding and cash advances without provincial board approval were done.

When asked about these transactions, the six Ilocos Norte officials uniformly said that they could not remember doing these.

“Ngayon, yung mga tumanggap ng tseke, ang tseke Ted, nagkakahalaga ng mahigit 30 million bawat tseke. Ngayon, noong tinanong yung tumanggap ng tseke, ang sabi niya wala raw siyang naaalala. Tapos lahat ng dokumento sa kapitolyo nawawala,” Alvarez said. “Thirty million mahigit, tinanggap mo, hindi mo maalala?”

This is not the first time that Alvarez, the fourth highest official of the government, had warned of defying court orders.

Just days ago, the speaker warned that the Congress would defy any Supreme Court ruling ordering it to convene and assess President Rodrigo Duterte’s justification for the declaration of army rule in Mindanao.

He said that he would tear to pieces such an order from the high court.

The speaker maintained that the Supreme Court had reaffirmed the right of the Congress to cite in contempt uncooperative resource persons.

“Kung halimbawa, ito namang Court of Appeals, nakialam naman, hindi nila tinitingnan na recently nagdesisyon na naman ang Supreme Court, reaffirming yung karapatan ng Kongreso na mag-cite for contempt itong mga testigo na hindi nagsasabi ng totoo, hindi ba?” Alvarez said.

The speaker also quashed speculations that the investigation was due to politics since Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, who presented documents showing the signatures of the said officials in buying the vehicles, was a political rival of Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.

Alvarez said that the public should decide on the merit of the case filed.

“Hindi, huwag nating paghaluin iyan, huwag nating gawing justification iyan. Tingan natin yung merito ng kaso, mayroon bang merit? May binili bang multi-cab? Mayroon. Magkano? 480 thousand isang multi-cab, na segunda mano. Magkano yung multi-cab na iyan? Sa Cebu, may rehistro na, segunda mano 150 thousand ang pinakamahal,” he said.

The speaker said that Justice Nina Valenzuela should have inhibited since her husband was an associate of Estelito Mendoza, a lawyer for the six officials.

“[A]lam mo, delicadeza dapat nag-inhibit man lang siya diyan, pero hindi nag-inhibit. Ito namang dalawa pang bugok na kasama niya, ay pumanig pa,” said Alvarez, also committing the same sin of blurring issues and ignoring the merits of the CA’s order.