The House Committee on Ethics and Privileges handling of Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr.'s ethics case will pass the Supreme Court's (SC) scrutiny, if it ever comes to that point. Committee Senior Vice Chairperson and Nueva Ecija 3rd district Rep. Ria Vergara is confident of this even as the camp of embattled Teves studies its options. The House of Representatives had already slapped on the Visayan a suspension of 60 calendar days for "disorderly behavior"--an unprecedented offense and sanction that was recommended to plenary by the ethics panel. On March 22, the plenary unanimously voted 292-0-0 (yes-no-abstain) to uphold the recommendation against Teves, who is considered absent without official leave. "As a member of the Committee on Ethics as well as being present in all committee hearings, I'm confident that we did not transgress or we did not overstep our mandate," Vergara said when asked about the possibility of the Teves camp bringing up the matter of abuse of discretion before the SC. "The Committee on Ethics and Privileges is the body of the House that has authority to give sanctions in a recommending capacity. The plenary either supports it or not," she noted. Pointing to the unanimous decision of the House members to carry the 60-day suspension, Vergara said: "I'm confident that the committee did it’s job and I think the [SC] will look at the records and will find that we did not transgress any rules." The House earlier issued Teves a travel clearance covering the dates Feb. 28 to March 9. He went to the United States (US) for stem cell treatment. He has since been implicated in the March 4 assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo and has refused to return to the country for fear of his life. The ethics panel then initiated the case for disciplinary action against Teves for his expired travel clearance.