TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: ABUSE OF POWER
MANILA, AUGUST 25, 2011 (TRIBUNE) Cutting to the chase, the Senate has displayed the arrogance and abuse of power by detaining an invited — not even summoned — resource person on the strength of its members' belief that Rowena del Rosario, a former bookkeeper of LTA Inc., a firm owned by the Arroyos, was lying before the Senate blue ribbon committee.
The intention is to detain indefinitely — or until she is forced to answer senators' questions the way they want them answered, which is for her to state that (a) former First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo is the owner of the controversial pre-owned helicopters, two of which were sold as brand new to the Philippine National Police; and (b) that Mike Arroyo bought and not just leased the choppers from Lion Air Inc., apart from his usinh his influence to get the used choppers sold to the PNP as brand new.
Yet in a courtroom hearing, even if the witness, under oath, testifies, whether true or perjured, is not ordered arrested and detained indefinitely for lying, merely because the judge and the prosecutor believe that the witness lied.
Besides, a witness can always choose to remain silent and is constitutionally guaranteed not to incriminate himself.
The thing to do, for those in the Senate who say Del Rosario lied under oath and should be detained until she tells the "truth" — which to them means to force her to say that it is Mike and not the LTA who bought the choppers and not leased them and that his brother Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo was never the president of LTA, for Del Rosario to be released from detention — is not to detain her, but to charge her with perjury and in court.
The Senate has been acting and continues to act as prosecutor, judge, jury and the police, whenever the senators out for blood and political vendetta hold hearings and insist on pinning down certain foes, in this instance, the Arroyos and those identified with them.
It is political vindictiveness that they exercise with that power; not justice. And if they don't realize it yet, the public, generally speaking — even if it loathes the Arroyos — doesn't particularly care for their methods of coercing an invited person to state what they want to hear and at the same time, will take the word of a certified perjurer such as former police official Restituto Mosqueda's statements as gospel truth.
The Senate may have the power to order the arrest and detention of a resource person it has asked to testify in a hearing, but for every power granted the Senate, or for that matter, the House of Representatives, such power must be exercised responsibly by the members of Congress, and not use this power to trample on the rights of a witness and force that witness to even perjure herself or refuses to give the response the senators want to hear.
If the Senate believes that indeed Mike Arroyo owns the choppers and was instrumental in selling the pre-owned choppers to the PNP, and if they believe they have the evidence, the responsible thing to do is to recommended charging Mike Arroyo on this anomalous chopper sale, and recommend too, the filing of perjury charges against any and all of the resource persons whom the senators believe lied through their teeth to protect Mike Arroyo.
They really should practice what they preach: How many times have the members of Congress and other officials in government denounced media for "irresponsible" reporting and claim too, that the freedom of the press that protects the media is not absolute?
In much the same way, the members of the Senate should realize that their power to hold hearings, summon witnesses and resource persons, along with their power to order their arrest and detention must be exercised responsibly, because that power is not absolute. The higher courts, under the Constitution, do have that power to rule on whether there was committed grave abuse of power by whichever government official.
It is clearly not justice but political vendetta that some senators who have that vindictive streak, seek and this bodes ill for the nation.
RELATED HEADLINE NEWS REPORT FROM TRIBUNE
Habeas corpus filed for detained LTA staffer By Benjamin B. Pulta and Angie M. Rosales 08/24/2011
[PHOTO - Arroyo family-owned LTA Inc. bookkeeper, Rowena del Rosario]
One down, two to go, in the case of the Arroyo brothers and their staffer in moves against them by the Senate?
The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday issued a temporary restraining order against Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima's Senate directed watch list order against former First Gentleman Juan Miguel "Mike" Arroyo.
The Court of Appeals (CA), depending on how it rules on the Arroyo family-owned LTA Inc. bookkeeper, Rowena del Rosario's petition for habeas corpus, may yet add up a score for the Arroyos and against a Senate position of arresting and detaining her.
The husband of Rowena, the former bookkeeper of LTA Inc. who is now detained at the Senate on contempt charges, filed yesterday a petition for habeas corpus before the CA to compel the legislative chamber's blue ribbon committee to produce his wife before the court.
In his petition filed through his lawyer, Nunilo Marapao Jr., Rolly del Rosario said that the members of the Senate blue ribbon committee acted arbitrarily, unjustly, unfairly and unlawfully in ordering the arrest and detention of his wife, who testified before the panel on Monday in connection with the purchase by the Philippine National Police of helicopters in 2009, which choppers senators insist were bought by Mike Arroyo, then sold to the PNP as brand-new, despite their being used and pre-owned.
The arrest order against his wife, Del Rosario said, should be declared null and void because it violated her constitutional rights and was a blatant disregard of the Senate rules in relation to inquiries in aid of legislation.
Del Rosario's lawyer also pointed out in his petition that for a contempt order to be valid, the members of the committee should be physically present to vote.
"This was not present in the case. There were not enough votes to consider the contempt order valid, as the votes of the senators who were not present cannot be counted," Marapao said, quoting from the petition.
In his petition, Del Rosario also pointed out that his wife's constitutional rights were violated, as she was subjected to a barrage of irrelevant, improper or insulting questions, and harsh or insulting demeanor from senators even though she had fully cooperated and answered them the best way she could.
He lamented that "legislative inquiries have been exploited as an opportunity to grandstand, to earn political fame, and even to pursue personal vendetta."
The petition also stated that the members of the blue ribbon committee committed grave abuse of discretion and authority, turning their hearing into an unconstitutional proceeding when it questioned Rowena.
Marapao said "the senators could not, in aid of legislation, assume the function of courts and put invited resource persons on a trial by publicity.
"In this case, the bounds of the power of inquiry have been overstepped. The inquiry in aid of legislation has turned to be an inquisition in aid of finding liability," Marapao said.
In a 23-page petition, Rolly del Rosario urged the CA to issue a writ of habeas corpus for his wife against the Senate blue ribbon committee.
Del Rosario was ordered arrested by the Senate panel last Monday. Sen. TG Guingona, panel chairman, had said she would stay there until senators are satisfied with her answers in the inquiry on the PNP chopper controversy.
Del Rosario also asked the court to order the Senate committee to first present the detained witness before the court and to "provisionally release her pending the hearing of the case or at least be admitted to bail."
Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo is in no position to impose any condition on the Senate, in exchange for his appearance before the blue ribbon committee and validate, under oath, claims on his involvement on the lease agreement with Lionair Inc.
"First off, he is in no position to impose any condition on anyone. He has an invitation and it did not compel his attendance. We do not have any intention to compel him in (submitting himself before the blue ribbon). We're actually doing him a favor by providing him a venue for his rebuttal on the lease agreement that he supposedly inked (with Lionair).
"If he does not want to honor our invitation, that's his call. But for him to impose conditions for his attendance, I think, that's a misplaced move," the senator said.
Senate probers, however, remained optimistic, despite the Supreme Court decision favoring Mike Arroyo on his appeal to be taken out of the immigration's watch list, that the courts will respect their move to cite in contempt and place under arrest Rowena del Rosario.
Lacson insisted that Rowena proved to be evasive in answering queries on Mike Arroyo's olvement in the alleged anomalous chopper deal exposed by Lacson.
Lacson's statements were in response to the challenge issued by Iggy that he will only agree to testify before the Senate panel if Lacson reveals to the public his whereabouts while he was still a fugitive from law last year.
The senator went into hiding late 2009 after he was issued a warrant of arrest stemming from his alleged involvement in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case while Iggy recently made claims that he, not his older brother, Mike, leased helicopters with Lionair in the past.
Lacson has also refused to answer allegations that he had falsified public documents in the matter of his travel document, which the Department of Foreign Affairs already ruled that it was a fake.
The former first gentleman is being accused by Lacson as the supposed owner of two of the three helicopters, alleged to have been registered under the name of Lionair Inc., and forcibly sold to the PNP in 2009.
Lacson, in an interview with reporters, admitted that they are now eyeing the possibility of convincing retired PNP chief Jesus Verzosa into spilling the beans, so to speak, as to what he really know of the purported irregularities in the deal which was inked during the time the latter was still at the helm of the country's police force.
The senator admitted that there remains a "missing link" as who could attest to Mike Arroyo having a hand in disposing of his purported choppers to the PNP as catalogued by the committee chaired by Guingona is still "circumstantial evidence" although clearly, there are indications that the units sold appear to have been pre-owned by Arroyo.
"There's no doubt that the helicopters, no matter what they tell us, were his (Mike's)and that's what will come out based on the evidence, testimony and documents.
"We're trying to explore who in PNP (can testify on this) but we have an idea and it could not be far from the head of the organization," Lacson said.
The senator, who was PNP chief during the Estrada administration, said some retired and active PNP officials approached him after Monday's hearing and expressed concern in "saving the institution that we both love" and "to save the other polie officers."
"You can just imagine how many police officers active and retired stand to be charged here and that person can absolve these officers if he will only come out and admit that he was instructed and that his subordinates had no chice but go through the negotiation process and purchase the helicopter," he said. "I'm referring to Jess Verzosa, actually," Lacson added.
Asked as to whether he will consider going to the extent of also citing Verzosa for contempt, the senator said it will depend on what will happen in the next two to three more hearings as recent developments lead to the surfacing of unexpected witnesses.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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