Belmonte: subpoena petition is improper

Remember the case of the P403-million Metro Cebu overpriced streetlights in 2007? Remember how 1,800 decorative lampposts were erected in Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu Cities at P224,000 apiece, when the unit cost was only a third at P83,000? Remember how the anomaly marred Metro Cebu’s hosting that year of the ASEAN Summit?

Well, the Ombudsman for Visayas has filed criminal raps before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court. Impleaded were the city engineers of the two cities, and several past and reelected officials. Also, certain project officers of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Region VII (Central Visayas).

But wait. There’s persistent talk that while the Cebuano “cohorts” are frying, the big fish from the DPWH central office in Manila got away  again.

The small fry are crying because, as local officials, all they did was prepare, on instructions of higher-ups, a program of works and estimates for budgeting purposes. They had no role in the bidding and purchase. Payment was to be drawn from the Motor Vehicles Users’ Fund, per a memo between the then-DPWH secretary and the Road Board executive director. The locals also did not sign for any project implementation or completion acceptance, or release any money.

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Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. finds foolish impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona’s petition to subpoena him to the Senate trial. “It’s just a delay tactic,” Belmonte brushed aside yesterday the move to make him appear at the proceedings of a co-equal chamber. “I don’t think the Senate will insult the House of Representatives by entertaining such idea.” Congressmen see the case merits being tried forthwith, instead of technicalities.

Corona, through counsel, asked the Senate Wednesday to call in Belmonte to justify the verification of the eight articles of impeachment. Also petitioned for subpoenaing are House justice committee chairman Neil Tupas Jr., Reps. Jesus Crispin Remulla, Hermilando Mandanas and Tobias Tiangco, and secretary general Marilyn Yap.

Corona is questioning the verification of the complaint. In a two-pager, he wanted Belmonte and the others to “appear for examination ... as to their personal knowledge and statements regarding the circumstances and events that transpired on Dec. 12, 2011, that led to (his) impeachment.” The panel of congressmen-prosecutors led by Tupas promptly filed an opposition to the unusual request.

Belmonte said there is a presumption of regularity of actions. The 188 congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint  nearly double the one-third of members required to impeach  also attested to having verified its contents. “None have backed out,” he said, “and 15 others even wanted to sign later.”

He mentioned it in contrast to the claim of Remulla, Mandanas and Tiangco of not having time to study the complaint and so couldn’t sign. “So no harm done,” Belmonte said of their statement since, contrary to some reports, “no one was forced to sign.”

Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, a spokesman of the prosecution panel, also said the subpoena is unnecessary. “Corona should not make the Senate question an official act of the House,” he said.

Angara recalled a similarity during the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada in 2000. The defense had claimed then that 44 of the 76 signatories did not verify the complaint. But then-congressman Joker Arroyo, a member of the prosecution, retorted that the verification process was done in compliance with House rules. Whereupon the Senate proceeded to hear the evidence. Now a senator, Arroyo pooh-poohs as “water under the bridge” questions about the House verification of the Corona impeachment.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is reluctant to heed the request for subpoena because of “the tradition of inter-chamber courtesy.” He said he would gather his colleagues’ thoughts.

Angara said that Corona’s defenders want to make it look like the impeachment came all of a sudden during an afternoon caucus last Dec. 12. “That event was a signing session,” he explained. “But impeachment moves began, for some congressmen, as far back as (Corona’s) midnight appointment (by President Gloria Arroyo) in May 2010. For others it started with (Corona’s) bar on the House from impeaching then-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in Sept 2010. For the rest the last straw was the Supreme Court order against the travel watch on President Arroyo.”

Rep. Joseph Abaya, a justice committee vice chairman who helped prepare the raps against Corona, said that any subpoena would put them in a bind. He has heard talk to discipline congressmen who would break inter-chamber courtesy by testifying at the Senate without permission.

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Barry Williams, describing himself as “a faithful reader,” reacts to my piece Wednesday about China losing diplomatic esteem due to its unfounded unilateral claim over the entire South China Sea:

“China has lost the high ground in friendly ties with its neighbors. Its claims to the South China Sea are weak and verge on immature rants. With its illogic, then India owns all of the lands within the Indian Ocean. “China’s actions will force its hand, say, in having to save face in an incident between a Filipino and a Chinese fishing boats. Sooner or later one headstrong mid-level military officer will react with force and cause an international confrontation between the two nations. Of course, that will pull in the US Navy, and Americans will find themselves on the brink of battle.

“What position would the Philippines be in if the US Navy wasn’t there as backup? The Chinese would have landed on your beaches by now. It might be nice to say thank you to the American public, since it is our tax dollars that pay for US Navy ships patrolling your waters.”

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