THE House committee on ethics and privileges is expected to recommend to the plenary stiffer penalty against Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., including possible expulsion as a member of the House for his continued absence without a travel authority.
Panel chair Rep. Felipe Espares (PL, COOP-NATCCO) said in a press conference that committee members, in a closed-door meeting yesterday, unanimously decided to recommend the imposition of stiffer disciplinary action against Teves for “disorderly behavior,” but did not specify the penalty.
Teves left for the United States on February 28 and was supposed to return on March 10. He has been tagged as mastermind in the March 4 attack in the province, which killed his political rival governor Roel Degamo and nine others.
Teves has denied involvement in the killing but continues to refuse to return to the country saying there is a threat to his life.
The ethics panel plans to formalize the recommendation to the plenary either today or tomorrow, which is the last session day before Congress adjourns sine die.
Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol), a vice chair of the panel, said that while expulsion is the stiffest penalty that is allowed by House Rules, no decision has been reached on whether it will be endorsed by the panel.
Bongalon said the panel cannot recommend an extension of Teves’ suspension because the 60-day suspension earlier imposed on him is the maximum allowed under the Constitution.
The plenary on March 22 upheld the ethics panel’s recommendation for a 60-day suspension which ended last May 22.
Bongalon said aside from expulsion, Teves can be sanctioned by other means because the rules allow the panel to recommend “any penalty that the committee may determine.”
“Those are the only remaining options but I’m not saying that it’s already the decision or recommendation of the committee,” Bongalon said.
‘WORST’
Teves, in an online press conference, said he expects the “worst” as he urged colleagues to vote based not on the dictates of the House leadership but on their conscience.
“Ang pakiusap ko sa aking mga kasamahan sa Kongreso, bumoto tayo sa naaayon sa batas at naaayon sa ating puso (My only plea to my colleagues in Congress is to vote according to the law and their hearts). “It should be a real collegial decision, hindi decision na galing lang sa mando ng iisa (not a decision based on the dictates of one),” he said.
Teves said some of his colleagues may vote against him for fear of losing congressional allocations for their districts since because members of the majority coalition are expected to toe the line.
He repeated his claim that some disagreed with the decision to suspend him but were forced to vote in favor of his suspension because their districts might suffer.
Teves, whose has reportedly applied for political asylum in Timor Leste, said he still has no plan to return home even if some of the suspects in the case have retracted their statements about his alleged involvement in the killing.
Recantation or not, threats to his life remain, said Teves, adding there is still no “semblance of fairness.”
Teves challenged ethics panel to investigate Speaker Martin Romualdez for possible conflict of interest, over the joint venture of the Romualdez-owned Prime Media Holdings Corp. and ABS-CBN Corp., saying the Speaker heads the House which is the body that approves legislative franchises.
“Why is the committee on ethics not investigating that?,” he said.
Under the joint venture, ABS-CBN Corp. and the Romualdez-led Prime Media Holdings Corp. will form a company that will expand content development and distribution.
Prime Media will own 51 percent while ABS-CBN will own 49 percent of the outstanding capital stock of the joint venture company, with an initial investment of P20.4 million and P19.6 million, respectively.
Prime Media has said its joint venture with ABS-CBN formalizes the agreement to develop, produce and finance content, programs and shows for distribution to local and international broadcast networks, channels and platforms.
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN is set to cease the operation of TeleRadyo, one of its news channels, this June as this has been incurring financial losses since 2020.
