EDITORIAL - Respect for the law

Are congressmen above the law? If members of the House of Representatives do not tread carefully, this is the impression they will project in the case of two of their members who were ordered suspended by the Sandiganbayan the other day.

The order suspending Oriental Mindoro Reps. Alfonso Umali and Rodolfo Valencia for 90 days was supposed to be implemented immediately. But the House, citing its own procedures, referred the case to its committee on rules yesterday. If warranted, the case will be forwarded to the House ethics committee, which will then recommend suspension of the congressmen.

Going by the track record of the ethics committee, that’s not encouraging news. That "immediate" order may have to wait till Christmas. Depending on the way the wind blows, that could even be Christmas 2006, just a few months short of the start of the campaign for the next congressional elections. The legislature, a co-equal branch of the judiciary, tends to protect its own, waiting up to the last minute to strike out of its roster even a convicted child rapist. Citing parliamentary immunity, it shields members charged with ordinary criminal offenses from arrest.

The public is watching the latest case with keen interest particularly because the suspension was ordered in connection with a graft case, allegedly committed when Valencia was governor of Oriental Mindoro and Umali the provincial administrator. The Office of the Ombudsman, which filed the case with the anti-graft court, deemed anomalous the payment of P2.5 million to an engineer for the repair of the "roll-on, roll-off" vessel of the province.

Valencia has admitted releasing P287,000 in calamity funds of the province for the repair contract and told the House the other day that he had no regrets about the deal. That may be so, but the anti-graft court has ordered his immediate suspension together with Umali and former Oriental Mindoro vice governor Pedrito Reyes while they face the graft charges in court. House leaders have promised to expedite action on the Sandiganbayan order. The public awaits this speedy action. In a land where the rule of law is a joke, legislators must lead by example and be the first to respect the law.