By Ben Rosario
Not even a bill authored by the cause of his legal miseries, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, can save Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo from being suspended as a member of the House of Representatives in connection with the graft case filed before the Sandiganbayan.
Davao del Norte 2nd District Representative Antonio Floirendo Jr. (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./Presidential Photo / MANILA BULLETIN)
This developed after House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas today stated that there will be no special treatment for Floirendo should the anti-graft court uphold an Ombudsman motion to place him under preventive suspension.
Cases similar to Floirendo’s are the subject of House Bill 6590, a legislative measure that exempts incumbent lawmakers and members of the judiciary from being suspended by anti-graft bodies, that the Lower House passed November last year.
Ironically, the bill which remains pending in the Senate was authored by Alvarez, Floirendo’s bitter foe, who was responsible for the filing of HB 6590.
Had the Senate acted positively on HB 6590 shortly after the Lower House approval, there is a strong likelihood Floirendo would have benefited from the bill in case the Sandiganbayan approves the Ombudsman motion seeking the suspension of the banana plantation magnate.
“The HOR in the 17th Congress, under the leadership of Speaker Alvarez, has respected and implemented all 90-day mandatory preventive suspension orders issued by the Sandiganbayan against its members as in the cases of Representatives Biazon, Espino, Villafuerte and Treñas,” said Fariñas in a Viber message to House reporters.
Acting on a complaint filed by Alvarez, the Office of the Ombudsman accused Floirendo of owning P7.5 million worth of shares in the Tagum Development Corporation, while serving as congressman.
It was during Floirendo’s first term as House member that TADECO was able to renew a controversial joint-venture agreement with the Bureau of Corrections for the firm’s continued lease of 5,310 hectares of land covered by the Davao Penal Colony.
Alvarez’s stand on the issue of whether or not preventive suspension orders issued by either the Sandiganbayan or the Ombudsman contradicts the position of his predecessors who ignored such directives.
However, the House leader made a strong attempt to “correct” the anti-graft law by filing HB 6590 which will protect lawmakers and judiciary members from being preventively suspended from their current office because of the fact that the graft charges filed against them were caused by their previous positions in the executive department.
Alvarez also rejected the implementation of the Ombudsman’s suspension of Deputy Speaker and Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia as he pointed out that this is beyond his powers granted under the 1987 Constitution.
"My appropriate action is not to implement the order. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution that allows me to do that. In fact, it is not within the power of the Ombudsman to discipline, much more to remove, any member of the House of Representatives," he told reporters then.
Aside from Alvarez, HB 6590 was co-authored by Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez and Representatives Eugene De Vera (ABS Partylist); Salvio Fortuno (LP, Camarines Sur); Rodolfo Albano (PDP-laban, Isabela); Michael Odylon Romero (1-Pacman Partylist); Edcel Lagman (LP, Albay); Johnny Ty Pimentel (PDP-Laban, Surigao del Norte); Rolando Andaya Jr. (Lakas-CMD, Camarines Sur); Dale Malapitan (NP, Caloocan City); Kit Belmonte (LP, Quezon City) and Fariñas.
In stressing the House leadership’s stand on the issue, Fariñas referred to the suspension orders issued by the Sandiganbayan against House members in the 17th Congress.
Among these are the following:
- Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino – 90-day preventive suspension issued September 9, 2016 for graft charges in connection with illegal black sand mining
- Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon – 90-day preventive suspension issued October 10, 2016 on graft complaints relating to the pork barrel scam
- Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr -90-day preventive suspension on a graft charge linking him to the anomalous procurement of P20 million worth of petroleum products in 2010
- Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Trenas – 90-day preventive suspension that he voluntarily served effective February 12, 2018 for a graft charge in connection with the alleged anomalous construction of the Iloilo Press Club building in 2002.
Davao del Norte 2nd District Representative Antonio Floirendo Jr. (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./Presidential Photo / MANILA BULLETIN)
This developed after House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas today stated that there will be no special treatment for Floirendo should the anti-graft court uphold an Ombudsman motion to place him under preventive suspension.
Cases similar to Floirendo’s are the subject of House Bill 6590, a legislative measure that exempts incumbent lawmakers and members of the judiciary from being suspended by anti-graft bodies, that the Lower House passed November last year.
Ironically, the bill which remains pending in the Senate was authored by Alvarez, Floirendo’s bitter foe, who was responsible for the filing of HB 6590.
Had the Senate acted positively on HB 6590 shortly after the Lower House approval, there is a strong likelihood Floirendo would have benefited from the bill in case the Sandiganbayan approves the Ombudsman motion seeking the suspension of the banana plantation magnate.
“The HOR in the 17th Congress, under the leadership of Speaker Alvarez, has respected and implemented all 90-day mandatory preventive suspension orders issued by the Sandiganbayan against its members as in the cases of Representatives Biazon, Espino, Villafuerte and Treñas,” said Fariñas in a Viber message to House reporters.
Acting on a complaint filed by Alvarez, the Office of the Ombudsman accused Floirendo of owning P7.5 million worth of shares in the Tagum Development Corporation, while serving as congressman.
It was during Floirendo’s first term as House member that TADECO was able to renew a controversial joint-venture agreement with the Bureau of Corrections for the firm’s continued lease of 5,310 hectares of land covered by the Davao Penal Colony.
Alvarez’s stand on the issue of whether or not preventive suspension orders issued by either the Sandiganbayan or the Ombudsman contradicts the position of his predecessors who ignored such directives.
However, the House leader made a strong attempt to “correct” the anti-graft law by filing HB 6590 which will protect lawmakers and judiciary members from being preventively suspended from their current office because of the fact that the graft charges filed against them were caused by their previous positions in the executive department.
Alvarez also rejected the implementation of the Ombudsman’s suspension of Deputy Speaker and Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia as he pointed out that this is beyond his powers granted under the 1987 Constitution.
"My appropriate action is not to implement the order. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution that allows me to do that. In fact, it is not within the power of the Ombudsman to discipline, much more to remove, any member of the House of Representatives," he told reporters then.
Aside from Alvarez, HB 6590 was co-authored by Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez and Representatives Eugene De Vera (ABS Partylist); Salvio Fortuno (LP, Camarines Sur); Rodolfo Albano (PDP-laban, Isabela); Michael Odylon Romero (1-Pacman Partylist); Edcel Lagman (LP, Albay); Johnny Ty Pimentel (PDP-Laban, Surigao del Norte); Rolando Andaya Jr. (Lakas-CMD, Camarines Sur); Dale Malapitan (NP, Caloocan City); Kit Belmonte (LP, Quezon City) and Fariñas.
In stressing the House leadership’s stand on the issue, Fariñas referred to the suspension orders issued by the Sandiganbayan against House members in the 17th Congress.
Among these are the following:
- Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino – 90-day preventive suspension issued September 9, 2016 for graft charges in connection with illegal black sand mining
- Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon – 90-day preventive suspension issued October 10, 2016 on graft complaints relating to the pork barrel scam
- Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr -90-day preventive suspension on a graft charge linking him to the anomalous procurement of P20 million worth of petroleum products in 2010
- Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Trenas – 90-day preventive suspension that he voluntarily served effective February 12, 2018 for a graft charge in connection with the alleged anomalous construction of the Iloilo Press Club building in 2002.