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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider House minority leader assailed for 'conflict of interest' in proposing amendment to PH Competition Act

House minority leader assailed for 'conflict of interest' in proposing amendment to PH Competition Act

Published Feb 16, 2021 12:10 pm

An opposition leader in the House of Representatives is in hot water for alleged “conflict of interest” in filing a bill that will amend a provision of the Philippine Competition Act for which she is accused of violating.

(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

Public interest lawyer Larry Gadon said Deputy Minority Leader and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo may have committed a serious violation of  Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for filing House Bill 5906 that seeks to amend Republic Act 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act.

Among other proposed amendments, Quimbo allegedly sought to scrap the provision of the law that bars commissioners of the Philippine Competition Commission from running for any office in the election immediately following the official’s resignation or separation from the PCC.

The lady solon has yet to respond to Manila Bulletin’s requests for comment on the issue.

Quimbo, a former PCC commissioner,  is facing a quo warranto petition seeking her removal as Lower House member for allegedly violating the said provision of RA 10667.

Filed in 2019 before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal by former ABS Partylist Rep. Eugene Michael De Vera. the quo warranto case has been pending despite the submission by De Vera of a motion for urgent resolution of the issue.

De Vera questioned Quimbo’s qualification to run for a congressional seat in the 2019 elections because she allegedly violated RA 10667.

Quimbo, De Vera said, was a PCC commissioner who resigned her post in 2018 to file her candidacy  the same year  for the congressional seat that was to be vacated by her husband, former DeputySpeaker Miro Quimbo.

De Vera who also ran for the same seat, immediately filed before the Commission on Elections a disqualification case against Quimbo, pointing out that she had committed a glaring violation of RA 10667 that bars resigned commissioners from seeking any public office by running in the  election.following such separation of PCC.

Gadon said that by merely filing a bill the will benefit her interest, Quimbo may have already violated the anti-graft law.

“Aside from conflict of interest, it is also unethical for the congresswoman to push for the scrapping of a law that she had been accused of violating,” he added.

Gadon said the delayed resolution of the De Vera-Quimbo case by the HRET is among the basis of an impeachment complaint filed by newsman Edwin Cordevilla against  Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

Currently the chairman of HRET, Leonen was accused of unjustifiably sitting on the case notwithstanding  De Vera’s submission that it should already be resolved since the legal issue raised requires a mere interpretation  of  what RA 10667 provides and determination if Quimbo had violated it, explained said.

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