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'Merry Christmas': Quad-comm lifts contempt, detention orders vs. Ong, Guo, Yang

Philippines | National

'Merry Christmas': Quad-comm lifts contempt, detention orders vs. Ong, Guo, Yang

By Ellson Quismorio

At A Glance

The House quad-committee (quad-comm) has lifted the contempt citations and detention orders on three key personalities who served as resource persons in their hearings the past few months.

Cassandra Ong (left), Alice Guo (Speaker’s office)

The House quad-committee (quad-comm) has lifted the contempt citations and detention orders on three key personalities who served as resource persons in their hearings the past few months.

Relieved of their penalties by the special four-way panel on Thursday night, Dec. 12 or 13 days before Christmas were Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) personalities Cassandra Ong, Alice Guo, and Tony Yang.

All three officially had their respective contempt citations and detention orders lifted before 10:10 p.m. or when quad-comm overall chairman Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers declared a suspension of the marathon hearings.

It was quad-comm co-chairman Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen "Caraps" Paduano who moved to lift penalties against the three controversial resource persons one by one.

None of the members of the mega-panel objected to Paduano's motions.

Before this, Ong, Guo, and Yang were detained under authority of the House at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City, Pasig City Jail, and St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City, respectively.

It has actually been weeks since the three were last seen at the quad-comm hearings. This was because the discussions in the hearings shifted to the topics of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the previous Duterte administration and illegal drugs.

Police major Leo Laraga also had his contempt citation and detention order lifted. He had been detaimed at the Quezon City Jail.

ALSO READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/9/28/quad-comm-uncovers-transnational-ring

"Merry Christmas and a happy new year," Senior Deputy Speaker Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. told his House colleagues and staff at the end of Thursday's hearing, as if to signal the end of the grueling hearings. For now at least.

The quad-comm had held 13 hearings spread across two "seasons"--a term used by the solons themselves in reference to how the proceedings been likened to a high-rating Netflix series.

Gonzales said that over a million viewers tuned into the hearing--the last for 2024--on the House of Representatives' social media since Thursday morning.

The quad-comm began its hearings last August.

Related Tags

Alice Guo Tony Yang Cassandra Ong quad-comm

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