House majority seeks fair probe on congressmen in PACC list

MANILA, Philippines — The House majority is supporting President Duterte’s campaign against corruption, including the investigation of several congressmen allegedly involved in anomalous public works projects.

Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said the leadership of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has given its “full support” to the President’s order to investigate all forms of corruption in government.

Romualdez said the House majority – composed of about 275 congressmen out of 300 current House members – would continue to support the President’s agenda against corruption even if it would involve their ranks.

But the Leyte representative called for a fair investigation as the eight incumbent congressmen publicly named by the President are expected to cooperate.

“In line with the President’s directive, it is now the duty of the DOJ (Department of Justice) to give the legislators named in the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission’s (PACC) list the proper forum to face their accusers and defend themselves,” Romualdez said.

He urged the DOJ to verify which of these charges have basis and which ones are “mere products of the imaginative minds of rival politicians.”

“We do not wish that the President’s war against corruption get sidetracked by polluted sources who are engaged in local partisan politics,” he said.

Earlier, Velasco called for due process for congressmen implicated in PACC’s report on corruption in the DPWH.

“The President made it clear that there is a presumption of innocence and such announcement was not an indictment. He assured these officials that reading their names ‘does not mean it’s a condemnation or indictment that you are guilty of something’ and that the public should ‘not take it as gospel truth’ that it’s true,” he pointed out.

The eight incumbent congressmen – Reps. Angelina Tan (Quezon), Deputy Speaker Henry Oaminal (Misamis Occidental), Paul Daza (Northern Samar), Geraldine Roman (Bataan), Alyssa Sheena Tan (Isabela), Eric Yap (ACT-CIS party-list), Alfred Vargas (Quezon City) and Josephine Ramirez Sato (Occidental Mindoro) – and former Ifugao congressman Teddy Baguilat have all denied the allegations.