ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider What will House ethics panel do to Alvarez? Chairman Espares answers 

What will House ethics panel do to Alvarez? Chairman Espares answers 

Published Apr 18, 2024 06:01 am

At A Glance

  • The House Committee on Ethics and Privileges current has "no basis" to hear a case against Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, who recently grabbed headlines for asking the country's soldiers to turn their back on President Marcos.  

20240418_135458.jpg

COOP-NATCCO Party-list Rep. Felimon Espares (left), Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez (Contributed photo, Facebook)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The House Committee on Ethics and Privileges current has "no basis" to hear a case against Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, who recently grabbed headlines for asking the country’s soldiers to turn their back on President Marcos.  

Committee chairman, COOP-NATCCO Party-list Rep. Felimon Espares made this clarification amid calls from other House members to subject the former speaker to ethics case proceedings. 

In a chance interview at the House of Representatives Thursday, April 18, Espares said they've yet to receive a complaint against Alvarez. 

"So far, wala pa naman natanggap tayo, so meaning, ang Committee on Ethics ngayon, silent pa. Unless otherwise, there's something na ma-receive yung committee natin," he said 

(So far, we haven't received any, so meaning, the Committee on Ethics is silent as of now. Unless otherwise, there's something that the committee will receive.) 

Espares said that currently there's "no basis to start" with a case against Alvarez, a known staunch ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte. 

On Sunday, April 14, during a peace rally in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, Alvarez called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to turn its back on President Marcos. This, as he expressed frustration over how Marcos has handled the situation in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) where there is rising tension between Manila and Beijing.  

Alvarez said that a withdrawal of support from Marcos would force the latter to step down.  

Some congressmen have even branded these remarks as "seditious". 

Regarding Alvarez's very public statements, Espares commented: "It's just a statement, tsaka wala talaga tayong basis (and we don't have a basis)." 

When asked specifically if he thinks there's no basis to tag Alvarez with disorderly conduct, the party-list solon replied, "Yes." 

"Unless...na may mag-complaint (somebody files a complaint), so that's the time that we could start the committee action...We will just wait kung mayroon man (if there's any)," Espares said. 

He further said that the reported investigations of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Philippine Navy on Alvarez have nothing to do with the House.

Related Tags

Pantaleon Alvarez felimon espares ethics complaint
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.