House rejects Imelda’s plea to free ‘Ilocos Six’
Not even a heartfelt appeal from Ilocos Norte 2nd District congresswoman and former First Lady Imelda Marcos was able to sway the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability into setting free the so-called “Ilocos Six.”
The six refers to the Ilocos Norte Provincial Government employees who last May 29 was cited for contempt and ordered detained by the Committee for refusing to be truthful in their testimonies in the House inquiry on the Capitol’s alleged anomalous purchase of motor vehicles amounting to 166.45 million.
Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel, who chairs the committee, read before panel members yesterday the 88-year-old Marcos’ “letter of recognizance,” which is basically a plea to the House of Representatives (HOR) for the temporary liberty of the Ilocos Six “grounded on humanitarian purposes.”
Marcos – rarely seen outside of plenary sessions – was present at the hearing.
“The six detained public employees... are aged 47 to 63. Most, if not all of them have medical conditions that may worsen due to confinement for a long period of time, such as detention. One of the six has cardiomyopathy, others have diabetes, one has lumbar disability, and another has suffered mild stroke,” Pimentel read the lady lawmaker’s letter, dated June 20, 2017.
“Thus, I respectfully and graciously petition this Honorable Committee to release temporarily on my own recognizance the six detained provincial government employees. I vouch for the six employees. They shall appear and respect the invitations or sub-poena issued to them,” he further read.
The detained resource persons are Ilocos Norte Provincial Treasurer officers Genedine Jambaro, Encarnacion Gaor and Josephine Calajate; Ilocos Norte Accountant IV Eden Battulayan; Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Chairman, Engineer Pedro Agcaoili; and Ilocos Norte Provincial Budget Officer Evangeline Tabulog.
To this appeal, Pimentel calmly told Marcos that her request is no good.
“Ma’am, we really could not grant this request because they have been cited for contempt,” he said, noting that they’ve been evasive with their answers. (Ellson A. Quismorio)