SENATE COMPLAINT VS LACSON NOW MOOT - VIC SOTTO III
MANILA, APRIL 3, 2011 (BULLETIN) By ROLLY CARANDANG — Senate Majority leader Vicente Sotto III said the ethics complaint filed against Sen. Panfilo Lacson has become moot and academic after the senator showed up last week after more than a year of hiding.
"If the issue is his absence, the ethics complaint will be moot and academic. He is now physically around. And if the complaint against him is about the Dacer-Corbito case, the Court of Appeals had already dismissed it," Sotto said.
The ethics complaint was filed against Lacson by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) for his alleged failure to perform his job as senator when he went into hiding in January last year a few days before a Manila court issued a warrant of arrest against him in connection with the Dacer-Corbito case.
However Sotto said if attendance would solely be the consideration for the filing of an ethics case against a lawmaker, he said then other lawmakers may also be held liable for absenteeism.
Although Sotto did not name names, Senate records showed that Senators Lito Lapid and Miriam Defensor Santiago were among those who have long absences at the upper chamber.
Santiago was then on prolonged sick leave because she has a thyroid disease. Lapid was absent for two months in the last quarter of 2010.
The Ethics committee chaired by Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano has yet to craft its rules, a prerequisite before committee can buckle down to work on resolutions pending before a committee or complaints as it is the case at the Ethics committee.
Cayetano has reiterated his call for his colleagues to cooperate in the framing of the rules of the Ethics committee to enable it to speed up the hearings on the cases pending before the committee.
"I haven't read the allegations [regarding the Ethics case] because we want to pass the rules first pero 'di ito maapektuhan nung desisyon ng CA. Pero habang nandito na si [Senator Lacson] ay siyempre kailangan naman natin [siyang] bigyan ng oras sa kanyang pamilya and to get back to work also sa kanyang staff," Cayetano said.
Cayetano lamented that the rules of the Ethics committee have not been passed since many of his colleagues have not shown keen interest in attending meetings.
But Sen Francis Escudero said Cayetano can act on the rules since he can call the shots as chairman. "If senators do not attend despite notices, then as chairman, Sen. Cayetano, can proceed. Others cannot complain because they are considered in default for not showing interest in the meetings," said Escudero in another interview.
He assured Senator Lacson of fairness before the ethics committee because he knows that the case needs to be disposed. He should know as former chairman," Cayetano said.
Cayetano was quick to clarify that the Ethics committee "is not after getting anyone, it's just making sure that there's a system of accountability at the Senate."
Cayetano and Lacson have not been in good terms in recent years over some political differences. Ironically, Lacson headed the Ethics committee in the last 14th Congress, when he initiated the hearing of a complaint filed by former Sen. Jamby Madrigal against then presidential candidate, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr, over the alleged overprice of the P200-million C5 Road extension project. The issue was believed to be one of the major reasons that derailed Villar's presidential bid and thereby leading to the victory of now President Noynoy Aquino III.
Lacson supported Mr. Aquino's presidential campaign in last year's May elections even though he was in hiding.
Cayetano also proposed the crafting of a Code of Ethics among senators so that there will be guidelines for senators, especially on the language that they may use during Senate public hearings.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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