Abuse of power
THE decision of a Senate committee chairman to cite embattled religious leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy in contempt for failure to attend a committee hearing is a patent and brazen overreach of the contempt power of the Senate.
Firstly, the issuance of a subpoena to the religious leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to compel him to attend an investigation to determine his innocence or guilt of the crimes of rape, sexual abuse, human trafficking and physical injuries has no legal basis. The committee is not the proper entity to render such judgment either way. It is a court of law that is constitutionally mandated to hear criminal cases properly lodged against an accused.
Secondly, conducting an investigation on the commission of crimes by a Senate committee under the guise of the much abused and vexing excuse of “in aid of legislation” is an odorous usurpation by the legislature of an exclusive executive function relative to the finding of probable cause as well as supplanting the judicial power to hear and determine the culpability of a person accused of perpetrating a crime.
It also places such an individual on a trial by publicity with its attendant humiliation, besmirched reputation and premature judgment even as it gives undue advantage to the accuser of painting the accused as guilty as hell the former not being subjected to a rigorous cross-examination, an effective method of exposing the lies of a perjured witness.
Moreover, it provides the investigating lawmaker unlimited space for grandstanding, bullying of resource persons and free media mileage so needed for re-election and political relevance.
Congressional committee hearings have developed the nasty reputation of either being a place to watch a display of despotic arrogance, a showcase for unforgivable ignorance of parliamentary rules or a theater for buffoonery.
The fact that the chairman of the Senate investigating committee is a lawyer is not enough excuse to justify her ignorance of the limits of Congress to use its contempt power.
While Congress has the inherent power to cite persons in contempt, it must do so sparingly and without depriving the person cited in contempt of due process pursuant to the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution, commanding, among others, that “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”
Why should the chairman of the Senate committee order the arrest and incarceration of Pastor Quiboloy?
Has he committed any crime? The answer is a resounding no! He has not even been formally charged in court yet with any crime.
Has he committed any act in contempt of the Senate committee? Neither. Its rules state that the chairman of the investigating committee can cite a person in contempt if the latter disobeys any of the committee’s orders or unduly fails to appear before it.
The ground for Pastor Quiboloy’s contempt citation is that he failed to appear before the committee when subpoenaed to do so.
It’s not the mere failure to appear or refusal to appear before the committee that justifies the arrest and jailing of the person. Rather, it’s the groundless decline or the undue refusal to appear. Pastor Quiboloy’s refusal to appear before the committee is anchored on the legal ground that the committee is not the proper venue under the Constitution and the law to hear the crimes he is being accused of, apart from his fear for his life owing to the grave threat against his life.
As elaborated earlier, the refusal or failure to appear before the probe body is legally sound; hence, the justification is not flimsy nor pretense.
The forced appearance by Pastor Quiboloy before the committee will deprive him of due process as he cannot avail of the constitutional rights of an accused person, e.g., the right to counsel, the right to examine the accuser and the witnesses against him, the right to bail if jailed and the right against self-incrimination.
Moreover, he becomes vulnerable to being bullied, silenced, embarrassed and humiliated by arrogant, biased and bigoted committee members.
There is absolutely no basis, whether factual or legal, to cite the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in contempt of the Senate.
The chairman’s citation of contempt of Pastor Quiboloy is an impertinent and inexcusable abuse of legislative power.
Sen. Robinhood Padilla’s opposition to the contempt order is impressed with merit, it being constitutionally based and supported by jurisprudence apart from being a demonstration of common sense.