Imee Marcos May Be Hard to Arrest Says Representative Pimental

Representative Johnny Pimentel said it might be hard to arrest Ilocos governor, Imee Marcos because of being a Marcos.

Pimentel, the chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, stated his thought about the issue of arresting the governor in a radio interview courtesy  of dzBB. Representative Johnny Pimentel was asked about the viability of arresting the present governor of Ilocos Norte Imee Marcos once she will not present herself in the hearing on the 25th of July to which he replied "Tingin ko mahirap-hirap 'yan."

Photo from Mindanao Politics

Imee Marcos will be investigated with regards to the irregular purchase of motor vehicles by the provincial government.

"If we will issue a warrant of arrest, we will be arresting a governor, incumbent governor at Marcos pa ang apelyido,” Pimentel explained.

The representative made a point by contrasting between arresting a Marcos and Ronnie Dayan  as he added: “Si Ronnie Dayan madali lang natin arestuhin dahil ordinary citizen. Pero this person is very powerful.”

Ronnie Dayan was the rumored lover and erstwhile driver of Senator Leila de Lima, who is now jailed at Cam Crame on account of drug charges.

The House of Representatives has already released a subpoena for the governor demanding her presence in the July 25 hearing after she failed to attend the previous ones.

The House Panel will be looking into the alleged corruption of the provincial government for utilizing the tobacco excise tax shares to purchase motor vehicles with the worth of P66.45 million.

With the advise of her brother and former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Imee, on the other hand, gave an impression of skipping the hearing.

It was remembered that Pimentel said on Tuesday that if ever the governor gives the summon a cold shoulder, it is possible that she will be ordered, arrested and detained.

Photo from Philstar

In the meantime, the House panel will still have to issue a show-cause order on the governor before the arrest is carried out.

He added that a detention area is already available for her accommodation.

"So ito [detention area] ay na-identify na namin, but we will still have to improve on it. Kasi ito ay existing satellite Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms," he said.

Nevertheless, Pimental made a conclusive statement that no body, even a governor, is above the law.

"She just violated a certain law eh bakit... panagutan naman n'ya. Tinatanong lang naman natin 'yong transactions na highly anomalous. Kung totoong inosente siya ay bakit hindi siya sumipot? Bakit hindi niya sagutin yong mga tanong?" he said.

"Siguro po sa tingin ko, may tinatago siya. May kinatatakutan siya na baka magkamali ang sagot niya o baka hindi tama ang sagot nya. This is already [a] show of guilt kasi bakit, kung ikaw inosente, tanungin po kita, kung ikaw ay inosente, matatakot ba kayong umattend ng hearing? Hindi naman po siguro di ba?" he added.

The representative cleared that the action of the committee is not personal.

Other government officials involved in the controversy are the following: Pedro Agcaoili, Evangeline Tabulog, Josephine Calajate, Eden Battulayan, Genedine Jambaro and Encarnacion Gaor were already detained at the Batasan Pambansa complex for denying the panel an answer.

However, it was the order of the Court of Appeals that  the 6 officials from detention be released.

As a response, the House panel released instead a show-cause order on the apellate court’s Associate Justices Stephen Cruz, Nina Antonino-Valenzuela and Edwin Sorongon.

Source: GMA News

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share