Representatives Marcelino Libanan of Eastern Samar and Ernesto Nieva of Manila said the opposition should allow Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to do his job before accusing him of whitewashing the jueteng investigation.
"The justice department, which has been tasked by the President to probe the jueteng issue, is compiling all evidence and inviting witnesses to get to the bottom of the controversy. Instead of undermining the department’s probe and branding this a whitewash, the opposition should cooperate and support it by providing the hard evidence against public officials and the First Family whom they implicated in this issue," the two said in a joint statement.
Specifically, as directed by Mrs. Arroyo, Gonzalez was to look into accusations that her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, and son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, were receiving jueteng money or protecting jueteng operators.
A similar accusation had been made against another Arroyo, Rep. Jose Ignacio or Iggy of Negros Occidental. The three Arroyos have denied the allegations.
Gonzalez has announced that he would like to question the witnesses who have dragged the Arroyos in the newest jueteng scandal and charge them in court if they cannot support their accusations.
His announcement has prompted opposition senators and congressmen to label the justice department inquiry as a cover-up and a whitewash.
"Is he covering up for somebody?" asked House Minority Leader Francis Escudero.
"Mr. Noted cannot be relied upon to do an impartial jueteng investigation," he said, referring to Gonzalez, who presided over the controversial congressional canvass of votes for president and vice president in June jointly with Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan.
Gonzalez and Pangilinan became known as "Mr Noted" for casually dismissing opposition protests, requests and motions, including those of Escudero, who was then a spokesman for the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., by just noting them.
In their joint statement, Libanan and Nieva also urged Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. to file charges in court against local officials allegedly involved in jueteng if he has the goods on them.
They said Pimentel cannot prevent Batangas Gov. Armand Sanches from leaving the country next week even if the governor has been invited to a Senate hearing.
Two other local officials have been summoned by the Senate. They are Gov. Raymond Villafuerte of Camarines Sur and Nueva Ecija Vice Gov. Marianito Joson.
Pimentel has said a close relative of Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte is a suspected jueteng lord, though he did not identify him.
Raymond is a son of Villafuerte.