House freezes Cayetano suspension

House of Representatives has frozen the report of its ethics committee recommending the suspension of Deputy Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who represents the lone district of Taguig-Pateros.

Although the ethics panel submitted its report on Thursday, the last day of session before lawmakers went on a three-month break for the election campaign, the House chose not to tackle it.

The report was sent to the rules committee, which Majority Leader Prospero Nograles heads and where the opposition bloc led by Minority Leader Francis Escudero is represented.

The rules committee determines which legislative proposals and committee reports are taken up in plenary session. It did not schedule the ethics committee recommendation for plenary deliberation on Thursday. Nograles has said he preferred reprimanding instead of suspending Cayetano.

In recommending the Taguig-Pateros congressman’s suspension for 45 days, the ethics panel, chaired by Bohol Rep. Roberto Cajes, concluded that he did not have proof to support his accusation that the family of President Arroyo kept "hundreds of millions of dollars" in HypoVereins Bank in Munich, Germany.

Cajes and Representatives Antonio Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur and Rodante Marcoleta of the party-list group Alagad, accompanied by First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, flew to Germany last week to check on the First Family’s alleged bank account.

Cayetano insisted that the proof to support his claim is inside the opposition’s seven boxes of impeachment evidence against Mrs. Arroyo. The House dismissed the impeachment complaints against the President in August without opening those boxes.

It was doubtful whether the Cajes committee recommendation to suspend Cayetano would be taken up in the projected two-day special session of Congress on Monday and Tuesday.

The majority can schedule it and other measures for plenary debate and vote provided it is able to muster quorum.

Opposition congressmen warned members of the majority yesterday that they better have enough attendance if they plan to tackle the Cajes report and the bill that seeks to renew the 25-year franchise of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

"I have no problem with most of the pending bills. My problem is with the Pagcor franchise renewal. I and many of my colleagues in the minority see it as an election-related fund-raising measure," Rep. Joel Villanueva of the party-list group Citizens Battle Against Corruption said.

He said there is no rush on the part of Congress to renew the franchise, which expires in 2015.

"Congress has eight more years to consider that," he added. Pagcor is seeking the renewal this early apparently to attract more investors for present and future projects.

"The quorum problem will surely worsen. Many of my ‘graduating’ colleagues will no longer attend the session, while those who lost in the elections will certainly not show up," said one congressman, who did not want to be identified. – Jess Diaz